Blackhawks vs Mammoth Preview, Projected lines

The Blackhawks will take on the Mammoth for 4th and final time this season. This will be the 3rd meeting in 12 days between these 2 teams. Monday’s matchup ended in OT with a Frank Nazar wrist shot from up high on the powerplay, giving the Blackhawks their 3rd win in 3 games against the Mammoth this season.

Photo by: Chicago Blackhawks

The Blackhawks are 2-2-1 in their last 5 games (15-15 goals for/against) an improvement from their previous 5 where they went 1-4-0 (outscored 17-13). The second line of Bertuzzi-Nazar-Teravainen has been playing well together. They have been creating more offense. Andre Burakovksy broke a streak he hoped to break since January. Burakovksy scored his first goal in 20 games (1st point since January 27) against the Mammoth on Monday. “Jesus Christ, I thought I was gonna slap my own head when I missed that first one, from Frankie.” - Burakovksy on a missed opportunity early in the game.

Arvid Soderblom is set to start tonight in Utah. last time Soderblom played here, he got his 1st career shutout, making 22 saves on 22 shots in a 4-0 win for the Blackhawks. Soderblom has played 20 games for the Blackhawks this season, going 6-10-3 with a 3.70 goals against average and a .876 save percentage.

The Blackhawks young defense core has been playing well, notably Alex Vlasic. Vlasic has been given more responsibility since Connor Murphy was traded. Sam Rinzel has also played well since he was called up on February 18th. Rinzel has 3 points in his last 5 games (1 goal, 2 assists). Seeing growth from the young defensemen is important in the final stretch of the season, as the Blackhawks could have an all 25 and under blue line next season. Running a blue line that young can be very dangerous so if they can show they can handle it in these last 18 games, it should hopefully carry over into next year.

Players to watch:

Frank Nazar: Nazar has 6 points in his last 4 games (2 goals 6 assist) including an overtime winner. After struggling to put up points since November, he seems to have found a bit of puck luck and a bit of swagger in his step. Nazar has dealt with 2 significant injuries this season. A mid-body injury vs Calgary in early November and a broken jaw in December that sidelined him for a month.

Connor Bedard: Connor Bedard has 5 points in his last 5 games (1 goal 4 assists) and is coming off of a game where he had a career-high 4 hits, as well as 11 shot attempts. Bedard has been flying since returning from the Olympic break, he’s been faster, more physical, and he has a certain bite to his game like we saw in October.

Projected lines:

Greene - Bedard - Burakovksy

Bertuzzi - Nazar - Teravainen

Mangiapane - Donato - Mikheyev

Lardis - Lafferty - Slaggert

Vlasic - Crevier

Kaiser - Rinzel

Grzelcyk - Levshunov

Soderblom

Nick Lardis practiced on the 4th line with Lafferty and Slaggert on Wednesday after playing on that line in both his games back in the NHL, averaging 8:43 time on ice. Lardis is on the 2nd powerplay unit, which doesn’t see much time. Does playing 4th line minutes benefit his development more than playing top line minutes in Rockford? That has been a talking point amongst Blackhawks fans the past week or so. Lardis has 18 goals and 32 points in 35 games with the Rockford IceHogs this season.

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