The Chicago Blackhawks are looking to get back in the win column on Monday as they take on the Minnesota Wild.
Since the last time these two teams met right after Thanksgiving, the Wild tumbled from a top-three position in the league to No. 7, going 5-6-0 in those 11 games, including four straight losses heading into Monday. That’s not a good drop off but they do still sit comfortably second in the Central Division, even if the Colorado Avalanche are gaining on them (they’re 9-2-0 in the same span), so the Wild really need to stop their mediocrity if they hope to maintain their standing. They can’t afford too many loses like their last one: a 5-0 drumming by the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday, the first time they were shut out this season.
The Wild are one of the best teams at suppressing quality chances against (2.03 expected goals against, tied for first in the league), but their quality generation is the exact opposite (2.2 expected goals for, 28th) and their shot possession is just average (49.09 percent, 19th). It doesn’t help that the Wild’s special teams are an area of weakness, especially their penalty kill which ranks 30th (68.4 percent). In their last five games, they’ve been outscored 20-5.
Still, the Wild are a solid team and do have legitimate threats to score on their roster, even if they haven’t been showing up as consistently lately. Kirill Kaprizov, obviously, is the power player for the Wild. He not only leads his team with 49 points (22 G, 27 A) in 33 games, he’s fourth in points among forwards for the entire league (fifth if you go by his 1.48 points-per-game). After him, there’s a little drop off, but the Wild’s top six is strong, consisting of young studs Matt Boldy (0.88) and Marco Rossi (0.79) along with veterans Mats Zuccarello (0.86) and Joel Eriksson Ek (0.59). On the back end, they have four defenders around 0.4 points per game or higher in Brock Faber, Jake Middleton, Jared Spurgeon, and Jonas Brodin as well.
One note, though: Eriksson Ek (lower body) and Middleton (upper body) are both currently on Injured Reserve. Eriksson Ek did participate in the morning skate for the Wild on Monday, but he was ruled out of playing against Chicago. Yakov Trenin, who has been out with an upper-body injury since Dec. 12, does return to the lineup. Goalie Filip Gustavsson, sidelined due to a minor lower-body injury the last few games, is also back but it’s unknown if he or Marc-Andre Fleury will be in net.
The Wild also did not roll lines at morning skate, but they will likely be close to the following (with Trenin subbing in on the fourth line):
The Blackhawks are somewhat in the opposite trajectory, at least vibes-wise: yes, they lost their most recent game 6-4 to the Calgary Flames on Saturday, but they hit a three-game winning streak before that, Connor Bedard had a three-point night in the loss, and there is just a general feeling of positivity around the Blackhawks right now. While the coaching change hasn’t resulted in a ton of wins, the Blackhawks have been 4-4-0 under Anders Sorensen and, even in the losses, the team did not feel out of the game. Also, several players who were struggling or stagnant earlier in the season are suddenly finding their productive touch again in these last eight games, most notably Teuvo Teravainen (11 points), Bedard (10), Ilya Mikheyev (7) Bertuzzi (7), and Hall (6).
The Blackhawks will likely run the same lines they were at the end of the Flames game. This included the Bedard and Frank Nazar swap, so that Bedard was with Tyler Bertuzzi and Taylor Hall. Those three combined for two goals at 5-on-5, while Bedard and Bertuzzi nearly connected for a third on the power play. Hopefully that play can continue, because it’d be great to see Bedard finally take off when not on special teams.
As for defense, personally, it’d be better to see Louis Crevier in the lineup over TJ Brodie, at least for the sake of rotating in the younger player.
In net, Arvid Soderblom will likely start as Sorensen mentioned wanting to do a 1A-1B rotation recently and Petr Mrazek was the goalie against Calgary.
Blackhawks — Statistic — Wild
45.21% (31st) — 5-on-5 Corsi For — 49.09% (19th)
45.51% (29th) — 5-on-5 Expected goals for — 52.03% (9th)
2.56 (29th) — Goals per game — 2.91 (19th)
3.18 (24th) — Goals against per game — 2.68 (6th)
43.4% (31st) — Faceoffs — 48.2% (25th)
22.5%% (11th) — Power play — 21.91% (19th)
85.1% (4th) — Penalty kill — 69.4% (30th)
(All stats from this season)
How to watch
When: 7 p.m. CT
Where: Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul
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