Blackhawks vs Devils Preview, Projected Lines
Tonight, the Chicago Blackhawks (27-33-13) face off against the New Jersey Devils (37-33-2) in their final meeting. New Jersey has shown themselves to be a good team when healthy. However, injuries have largely derailed their playoff hopes. Devils forward Jack Hughes has been on a tear recently, with 8 points in his last 5 games. Jake Allen will be in net for New Jersey, he has a .906 save percentage.
The Blackhawks have had a rough 2 games, losing to the Philadelphia Flyers 5-1 on Thursday. Friday was arguably even worse, losing to the New York Rangers 6-1 in New York (the Rangers only had 9 home wins heading into the game). Most of the losses this year have not been blowouts, and the season overall has been much better than the previous couple. Unfortunately, when it rains it pours.
The condensed schedule, youth of the team, and the fact that 2 more young players just joined the roster have all probably contributed to the recent ugly losses. Because of the current road trip, Chicago has not been able to have a true practice. Still, the Blackhawks need to try and muster a better effort for the remaining 9 games of the season. With New Jersey playing yesterday in Carolina, they have an opportunity to do so.
Blackhawks forward Tyler Bertuzzi said this after the game: "We're trying to figure out [what's going wrong] ourselves. I don't know if it's just such a young team, immaturity and we can't put it together. But it's on everyone. It's on us older guys to show the lead and have them follow. As a group, everyone, the last few games, we have not been good at all." Even though Chicago has the youngest roster in the NHL, there are plenty of veterans like Bertuzzi and Teuvo Teravainen to help steer the ship. I think Bertuzzi’s last sentence is extremely accurate; the truth is that nobody is playing particularly well right now.
Except for Nick Lardis; he scored again in Friday’s loss. Lardis has 5 points in his last 5 games, including 3 goals. Overall, he has 8 goals and 5 assists for 13 points in 32 games. Over an 82 game pace, that’s about 20 goals and 33 points. Nick Lardis being a 20-goal scorer for seasons to come would be great for Chicago. Sacha Boisvert did have his first fight in the NHL on Friday against Will Borgen. Although Boisvert has struggled in his first 2 NHL games, his physical presence is great for the young roster. Anton Frondell did not register a point in Friday’s game; it is clear that he and Connor Bedard are still developing their chemistry
Photo by: Chicago Blackhawks
Artyom Levshunov was missing from practice today due to a fracture in his left hand that occurred a few games ago, he is to undergo further treatment and his timeline is unknown. Blackhawks have recalled Kevin Korchinski (21) to take his place. Korchinski has played top minutes all year in Rockford, including powerplay and penalty kill. Korchinski is an offensive defensemen who is still looking to round out his game at the pro level. Head Coach Jeff Blashill also said today that rookie Anton Frondell will play center tonight. “He’s played center a lot in his life, and I think he’s got traits to be a really good 200-foot winning center. And I’d rather get a look at it this year rather than at the beginning of next year.”
The forward lines are difficult to project with these new changes, although the defense skated in their pairs today. The Blackhawks have also made changes to the struggling powerplay, rather than having 4 forwards and 1 defensemen, they are going to be running all 5 forwards (Bedard, Nazar, Frondell, Teravainen, and Bertuzzi).
Projected Lines
Greene - Bedard - Lardis
Nazar - Frondell - Bertuzzi
Burakovsky - Donato - Mikheyev
Teravainen - Boisvert - Slaggert
Vlasic - Crevier
Kaiser - Rinzel
Korchinski - Del Mastro
Knight
Tonight’s game wraps up Chicago’s road trip to the Eastern Conference. They have a home game on Tuesday against Winnipeg before starting another 3-game road trip out west.
