Blackhawks vs Jets Preview, Projected lines
Tonight, the Chicago Blackhawks (27-34-13) face off against the Winnipeg Jets (31-30-12). After a very difficult start to the season (Winnipeg was 15-19-4 on January 1st), the Jets have been playing a lot better. Mark Scheifele is having a great season with 89 points in 73 games, including 34 goals. Although Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck is having a down season (.899 SV%), he is still a fantastic goalie and a big reason why USA won gold at the 2026 Olympics. Former Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews will be making his second visit to the United Center as a member of the Winnipeg Jets.
The Blackhawks are in a bit of a slump right now. Although they played better against New Jersey compared to the previous games, they ultimately could not hold any sort of lead. Once the Devils took the lead (only 19 seconds after tying it), Chicago was out of it. The Blackhawks need to be better defensively and have a full 60-minute effort if they want to beat Winnipeg. One area Chicago needs to address is shots allowed per game; in the past 4 games, they have allowed an average of nearly 42 shots. Much of this is because of the youth of the D core, but regardless it puts a strain on the goalies.
Blackhawks forward Frank Nazar said this after the game: “I [have] full belief in our team. I think our team can skate with any other team in the league. I love these guys, and I think everybody in here has got the heart and the skill to do it right. Sometimes stuff like that happens, and we've got to learn from it." That is a great attitude for a young player on a young team to have. As the players get more experience and practice, hopefully some of the issues become far less common.
Speaking of Frank Nazar, Sunday was the first multi-goal game of his career. He was the best Blackhawks forward in that game, despite playing on a brand new line with Ryan Donato and Andre Burakovsky. In fact, he has arguably been the best Blackhawks forward since the Olympic break. He has 14 points in 17 games in March, including 6 goals. A healthy Frank Nazar is a phenomenal player. Anton Frondell also had 2 assists on Sunday, for 4 assists in 4 games. Although he has not scored a goal yet, Frondell continues to look really good. In just 4 games, his hockey sense and vision are very apparent. Frondell will switch from #15 to #16 tonight.
Photo by: Chicago Blackhawks
Projected Lines:
Greene - Bedard - Lardis
Bertuzzi - Frondell - Mikheyev
Donato - Nazar - Burakovsky
Teravainen - Lafferty - Slaggert
Vlasic - Crevier
Kaiser - Rinzel
Korchinski - Del Mastro
Knight
Sacha Boisvert will not play tonight - Sam Lafferty will take his place on the 4th line. On the back end, both Artyom Levshunov and Matt Grzelcyk are out for the remainder of the season with injury.
Kevin Korchinski played in his 5th NHL game of the season on Sunday, after being recalled to replace the injured Artyom Levshunov. Korchinski had the least amount of ice time of all the Hawks defenseman (12:09) and had no shots on goal. His most memorable moment was taking an interference penalty against Devils forward Cody Glass. Sacha Boisvert had 9:36 of ice time, the lowest TOI of anyone on the team (Korchinksi had the second lowest amount of TOI). Boisvert played well overall despite the limited minutes. Hopefully Korchinski begins to assert himself more, and get more TOI as a result.
The Blackhawks have 8 games remaining, and currently sit in 31st in the league with 67 points. After going 1-3-0 on their Eastern road trip, the Blackhawks are glad to be back at the United Center.
