Blackhawks vs Flyers Preview, Projected Lines
Tonight, the Chicago Blackhawks (27-31-13) face off against the Philadelphia Flyers (34-24-12) in their second and final meeting. The prior matchup was a 3-1 loss for Chicago in December, when Connor Bedard and Frank Nazar were both out with injury. The Flyers are still in the playoff race, but their chances have faded somewhat. Travis Konecny is their leading scorer, with 60 points in 66 games. Trevor Zegras is enjoying a resurgent season as well, with 56 points in 70 games. The Flyers play a very conservative style of hockey, so the Blackhawks need to take advantage of their opportunities.
Anton Frondell made his debut on Tuesday, playing on the top line with Connor Bedard and Ryan Greene. Frondell had an assist on the Ilya Mikheyev goal and looked good overall. I think as Frondell gets more settled, he will look even better. After all, it has been a whirlwind couple of days for him; he joined the team the day before the game. He finished the game with 15:43 TOI with 2 shots on goal. The Blackhawks have a busy schedule coming up, so Frondell will be put to the test. Continuing to play with Bedard will help Frondell gain more confidence. He said after the game that “it still feels like a dream.”
Sacha Boisvert, the 18th overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft, will be making his debut for the Blackhawks tonight. Although Boisvert had a disappointing season with Boston University, he will infuse great energy within the Blackhawks. His physical playstyle is something Chicago doesn’t really have right now, and therefore could benefit a lot from. The Blachawks have the youngest roster in the NHL; the future is truly right now.
Frank Nazar was great in Tuesday night’s win over the Islanders, with a goal and an assist. Nazar has 12 points in his last 12 games and he has been electric since the Olympic break. However, the real star may have been Nick Lardis; he had a goal and 2 assists in arguably his best game as a Blackhawk. The Bertuzzi-Nazar-Lardis line was the best line on Tuesday, responsible for 3 out of the 4 Blackhawks goals. Head Coach Jeff Blashill needs to keep this line together going forward.
Photo by: Chicago Blackhawks
Projected Lines:
Greene - Bedard - Frondell
Bertuzzi - Nazar - Lardis
Burakovsky - Donato - Mikheyev
Teravainen - Boisvert- Slaggert
Vlasic - Levshunov
Kaiser - Rinzel
Del Mastro - Crevier
Knight
The Blackhawks have 67 points through 71 games, with 11 games remaining. For comparison, they had 61 points in 82 games last season. The season before that, they had 52 over 82. The Blackhawks are currently projected to finish somewhere around 75 points, which would be a significant improvement over the last several seasons. The pieces of the puzzle are finally coming together
