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Sweet ★ Honey ★ Buckiin’: Blackhawks vs. Predators Preview

Another team near the bottom of the league standings is at the UC on Friday night.

Posted on by L_B_R
Credit: David Banks-Imagn Images

The Chicago Blackhawks host the Nashville Predators in the first of a back-to-back weekend before being off for a couple of weeks.

This isn’t quite the ultimate battle of the basement — that’d be the Blackhawks versus the San Jose Sharks — but the Predators are the third worst team in the NHL this season, a complete disappointment considering their off-season moves. And their spot in the league standings could change quickly, considering the Predators are currently on a five-game losing streak, the longest among any team in the league — although they were on a five-game winning streak before this tumble. Their latest loss was a 5-3 outing again the Ottawa Senators in which the Predators allowed three goals against in the third and allowed nearly 40 shots against.

Despite team issues, Filip Forsberg is still trucking along at an elite rate and leading the Predators easily with 51 points (19 G, 31 A) in 52 games, the eighth time he’s hit 50 points in his career. The two biggest offseason pick-ups — Jonathan Marchessault and Steven Stamkos — are both next up in terms of points per game (0.75 and 0.63), even if those rates are down from what Nashville hoped when acquiring them. Ryan O’Reilly is the only other forward on the team with an above average points rate (0.61). Roman Josi, as usual, is doing well on the back end with 36 points (9 G, 27 A) in 48 games, but he’s basically the only major contributor from the defense.

So, it’s easy to see why Nashville has been struggling with scoring this season, especially lately. Nashville has been outscored 20-8 during their current five-game skid, shooting at about just five percent, which is not likely to last. That low of a shooting percentage isn’t sustainable, even by a generally poor scoring team like the Predators, so the Blackhawks will just have to be hopeful this isn’t the game the Preds actually get some puck luck. Also, it’s both Stamkos and Ryan O’Reilly’s birthdays today, so be on the lookout for possible birthday goals.

Additionally, the Predators recalled their 2022 first-round pick (17th overall), Joakim Kemell, who is tied for the lead with 25 points (9 G, 16 A) in 38 games for the Milwaukee Admirals this season.

As for lines, it’s somewhat unknown what the actual combinations will be due to Kemell’s insertion into the lineup. Predators coach Andrew Brunette has him rushing with all three top lines at practice, mostly with Stamkos, but then mentioned playing him with other lines.

In comparison, here is what they ran in their last game — note that Vinnie Hinostraza was claimed off waivers by the Minnesota Wild and no longer with Nashville organization.

As for the Blackhawks, they have just two wins in their last 10 games, though they’ve picked up points in four others. Chicago has only been outscored 35-27 in that span, a smaller margin than you’d think considering their schedule lately has been filled mostly with playoff-quality teams. Yes, they’ve been routed here or there — the 5-1 loss to the Florida Panthers was especially disappointing — but the Blackhawks have kept the games close with the likes of the Edmonton Oilers (4-3), the Carolina Hurricanes (3-2, 4-3), and Tampa Bay Lightning (4-3). So while the Blackhawks aren’t winning, there are enough bright spots in recent games for fans to be a little less doomy and gloomy about things — just a little, though.

However, the Blackhawks did suffer a major blow in their last game: Jason Dickinson is expected to miss time with a high ankle sprain. It’s hard to imagine the Blackhawks without Dickinson, who regularly takes on the toughest opposing competition in defensive situations, but the team is lucky the injury happened right before a break. Hopefully someone — or many someones — will step up to fill the void left behind by one of the best defensive players on the team.

Blackhawks lines are expected to be what they rolled out during Thursday’s practice. With Dickinson out, Frank Nazar has been slotted between Teuvo Teravainen and Ilya Mikheyev, and it’ll be interesting to see if that line will get the shutdown role. Philipp Kurashev was skating in Nazar’s old place with Nick Foligno and Tyler Bertuzzi. The other two lines remain the same from the Oilers’ game.

Although defense pairings are not listed above, we do know that Nolan Allan is the expected scratch for Friday, so they will likely be the same as against the Oilers. Sorensen doesn’t like to have too many young players in the lineup at once, which isn’t unreasonable, in general, yet vexing during a rebuild year. It’s kind of dumb to not let as many of them play as possible when against such a low-quality opponent like the Predators.

Petr Mrazek will be in net.

One final note: the games this season between the Blackhawks and Predators have been close, but the Predators have been victorious both times with a score of 3-2. In both games, the Blackhawks squandered leads: they were up by two goals midway through the October matchup and up by one with less than five minutes left in the recent January loss. In terms of securing the best possible lottery odds / final standing, losing tonight is in the best interest of the Blackhawks since the Predators are in a free fall. However, the Predators are annoying, and beating them finally this season would be nice.

Blackhawks — Statistic — Predators
44.35% (32nd) — 5-on-5 Corsi For — 51.34% (9th)
43.75% (31st) — 5-on-5 Expected goals for — 51.27% (11th)
2.58 (31st) — Goals per game — 2.60 (29th)
3.43 (30th) — Goals against per game — 3.25 (25th)
45.3% (30th) — Faceoffs — 51.7% (9th)
23.8% (9th) — Power play — 21.5% (15th)
81.4% (11th) — Penalty kill — 82.2% (8th)
(All stats from this season)

How to watch

When: 7:30 p.m. CT
Where: United Center, Chicago
TV: CHSN
Webstream: ESPN+
Radio: WGN 720

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