The Blackhawks are back at the United Center to face off against the Islanders for the second meeting between the two teams in the last four days. The Hawks will also play their second straight afternoon game while hoping to avoid the third-period collapses that have plagued them in their last two contests.
Even though they just saw the Islanders in New York on Thursday night (where they suffered one of said collapses), NY will be running out a significantly different lineup on Sunday afternoon.
Former Islanders winger, and one time potential Blackhawks draft pick, Oliver Wahlstrom was claimed off waivers by the Boston Bruins on Saturday. Wahlstrom never lived up to the hype in NY, amassing just 36 goals in 220 games.
Islanders center Bo Horvat will be a game-time decision after they announced that he’s dealing with a lower-body issue:
But the biggest news for NY is they could be getting some major reinforcements back in the form of their best offensive player Mat Barzal, and one of their best defenseman in Adam Pelech.
If Barzal plays (and Horvat doesn’t), Barzal immediately slots in as the top-line center and NY theoretically doesn’t really miss a step. Barzal has been sidelined since Nov. 1 with an upper-body injury, and has only appeared in 10 game so far this season, scoring five points (2G, 3A) in the process.
As for the Blackhawks, the New Jersey game felt close-ish for the first 40 minutes until the Devils turned it on and blew the Hawks’ doors off in the third.
I know it’s only Anders Sorensen’s fifth game as an NHL head coach, but I would suggest he gets his team on top of this ASAP:
The good news was Frank Nazar made his season debut on Saturday afternoon and definitely showed some flashes of the speed, skill, and instincts that make him such a promising prospect. The bad news was his line with Taylor Hall and Tyler Bertuzzi got thoroughly clocked, he didn’t win a single faceoff (0 for 6 at the dot), and he had more penalty minutes (2) than shots (1). All that being said, the Devils are a tough draw for your first game of the season, so I’m interested to see how Nazar adjusts against a decidedly slower (and far less skilled) Islanders team at home.
These are the lines that Hawks ran out for Saturday’s game, and we’ll update if there are any significant changes:
And after Drew Commesso made his first official start on Saturday, Arvid Soderblom will be back in net for the rematch against the Isles on Sunday.
While I know the wins aren’t there right now (and likely won’t be for the rest of this season), I’ll offer up a small reminder that there are still some significant reasons to be optimistic:
Let’s go, Hawks.
Tale of the Tape
Blackhawks — Statistic — Islanders
44.71% (32nd) — 5-on-5 Corsi For — 47.49% (25th)
44.84% (29th) — 5-on-5 Expected goals for — 49.96% (18th)
2.39 (30th) — Goals per game — 2.53 (t-28th)
3.11 (20th) — Goals against per game — 2.97 (t-14th)
44.1% (30th) — Faceoffs — 54.8% (1st)
23.3% (11th) — Power play — 13.3% (31st)
82.5% (t-6th) — Penalty kill — 65.6% (32nd)
(All stats from this season)
How to watch
When: 2 p.m. CT
Where: United Center, Chicago, IL
TV: CHSN (How to Watch) Crazy that we still have to provide a how-to-watch guide in mid-December, right?
Webstream: ESPN+
Radio: WGN 720