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Staring at the Blank Page Before You: Blackhawks at Islanders

Anton Frondell is here and making his NHL debut tonight.

Posted on by L_B_R
Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images

The Chicago Blackhawks kick off a four-game road trip Tuesday night against the New York Islanders. And oh yeah, top prospect Anton Frondell is officially in the lineup tonight for his NHL debut!

Since the Blackhawks last saw the Islanders at the end of December, their points percentage has ticked up slightly from .590 to .599, but they’ve still slid in the standings, going from third in the Metropolitan Division to just outside the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. The Detroit Red Wings currently hold a razor-thin edge at .600, which really just underscores how competitive the East has been this season: even maintaining a solid pace hasn’t guaranteed anything. The Ottawa Senators are right there as well at .593, so this is shaping up to be a photo finish down the stretch, and the Islanders will be desperate to get a win Tuesday against the Blackhawks.

Up front, the Islanders are getting production from the same core pieces as before, and they’ve stayed relatively hot lately. Over the last 10 games, Mathew Barzal leads the way with nine points (1 G, 8 A), with Bo Horvat close behind at eight (4 G, 4 A). Emil Heineman has paced the team in goals with five in that span, while Calum Ritchie has chipped in five points (2 G, 3 A). Beyond that group, though, consistency has been an issue — no other forwards are hovering at or above a 0.5 points-per-game pace, which helps explain why the Islanders’ offense hasn’t taken a meaningful step forward over the past few months.

On defense, Matthew Schaefer continues to look like a star in the making, racking up seven points (2 G, 5 A) over his last 10 games, while Tony DeAngelo has also stepped up lately with five points (1 G, 4 A) in that same span. Due some injuries, Schaefer played his off-side in the last game, and he still had a stellar performance.

One of the biggest reasons for the Islanders’ positive season is still the performance of Ilya Sorokin in net. He’s having a great season: fifth-best save percentage (.913) and third in goals saved above expected (25.2) among starters — both phenomenal considering the Islanders allow the second-most expected goals against in the league.

Good news for the Blackhawks is they’re not expected to face him. Instead, it looks like backup David Rittich will get the start. He’s having a mostly average season (.898 save percentage, 5.9 goals saved above expected).

As for their lineup, the Islanders are sticking with the same lines and pairs after winning their last game. Ryan Pulock remains out with a lower-body injury. Anthony Duclair has apparently recovered enough from his own lower-body injury but won’t skate Tuesday against the Blackhawks.

As for the Blackhawks, March has treated them alright: they’ve earned points in eight of their 11 games this month. That includes their most recent outing, a 3-2 overtime loss to the Nashville Predators on Sunday at home. Connor Bedard and Nick Lardis scored Chicago’s goals, Tyler Bertuzzi and Ryan Greene each added an assist, and Spencer Knight stopped 30 of 33 shots. As noted in the recap, it was one of the Blackhawks’ stronger puck-possession efforts of the season — they controlled 58.33 percent of the shot attempts — but Nashville was the more opportunistic team and finished with a 57.24 percent expected goals share.

The Blackhawks did lose Matt Grzelcyk to an undisclosed injury during the Predators game, and he has not traveled with the team on this trip. With no additional recalls from the Rockford IceHogs, Ethan Del Mastro will slot back into the lineup.

Speaking of lineup options, the Blackhawks had reinforcements arrive this week in the form of prospects Frondell and Sacha Boisvert. Frondell joined the team in New York on Monday, was officially recalled Tuesday morning, and will make his debut Tuesday night against the Islanders.

Sacha Boisvert apparently received notice his work visa was approved only after Tuesday morning skate, so the plan is for him to sit the Islanders game out and have him play later during the roadtrip. Probably a good idea to not have two young forwards debut at the same time, honestly.

The lines at morning skate had Frondell slotted alongside Bedard and Greene on the top line. Considering coach Jeff Blashill has been saying that Greene would be moved to center at some point, some fans were aghast that Andre Burakovsky was going to stay on the top line despite having a terrible last few months. He could still be moved up there in-game or sooner after, but for now, he’ll be with Ryan Donato and Ilya Mikheyev.

The Frank Nazar, Bertuzzi and Lardis line that was successful last game stays intact while Teuvo Teravainen is regulated to the fourth line with Sam Lafferty and Landon Slaggert. Arvid Soderblom was in the starter’s net, so likely he will be the go-to guy against the Islanders.

The full lines and pairs can be seen below:

Also to note, Frondell was getting time on the top power play unit:

Blashill’s advice to Frondell for Tuesday’s game was to “just be him” and not worry about mistakes:

Frondell had some initial nervous jitters when practice began, but he’s excited to play in his first NHL game and his parents and sister will in attendance.

Tale of the Tape

Blackhawks — Statistic — Islanders
46.17% (29th) — 5-on-5 Corsi For — 48.50% (23rd)
43.61% (32nd) — 5-on-5 Expected goals for — 46.58% (26th)
2.57 (30th) — Goals per game — 2.85 (22nd)
3.14 (22nd) — Goals against per game — 2.77 (4th)
46.6% (31st) — Faceoffs — 52.1% (6th)
18.3% (22nd) — Power play — 16.6% (27th)
84.4% (1st) — Penalty kill — 81.1% (10th)
(All stats from this season)

How to watch

When: 6:00 p.m. CT
Where: UBS Arena, Elmont
TV: CHSN
Webstream: ESPN+
Radio: WGN 720

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