Blackhawks vs Oilers Preview, Projected lines
Tonight, the Chicago Blackhawks (27-34-14) face off against the Edmonton Oilers (38-28-9). The Oilers have won 4 games in a row; coincidentally, the Blackhawks have lost 4 in a row. Making this more impressive for the Oilers is that Leon Draisaitl has not played since March 15th–he is second on the team with 97 points in 65 games. Leading the way is Connor McDavid, with 125 points in 75 games. The Hawks young defense will need to keep McDavid in check. Finally, Oilers defensemen Evan Bouchard is having a great season with 86 points in 75 points; that leads all NHL defensemen. Finally, the Blackhawks will be playing against their former teammates Connor Murphy and Jason Dickinson. Colton Dach is also an Oiler but is currently injured. Murphy and Dickinson were good veteran leaders for the Blackhawks when they were here.
Despite losing in overtime, Tuesday’s game against the Jets was Chicago’s best effort in the last couple weeks. Anton Frondell was really good in the first period, scoring his NHL first goal. Changing his number from 15 to 16 must’ve done the trick. Although his first overtime was not great, overtime has not been kind to the Hawks in general. The Blackhawks have the fourth-most OT losses, with 14. If the Blackhawks just had 3 more wins in OT, they would have 30 wins and over 70 points. This is something they need to work on for next season. Regardless, Frondell continues to play very well. He now has 5 points in 5 games.
Photo by: Chicago Blackhawks
Tyler Bertuzzi had a phenomenal game on Tuesday as well, with 2 goals. His first goal was a beautiful spin-o-rama that channeled former Blackhawk Patrick Kane. Bertuzzi leads Chicago in goals with 31, which is also a career-high. He is someone that always seems to give 100% every game.
I mentioned that the Blackhawks struggle a lot in OT. Early in the season, 2nd periods were also a major problem. Unfortunately, the 2nd period woes have returned, and have arguably gotten worse. On Tuesday, Winnipeg outshot Chicago 15-2(!). Granted, Chicago outshot Winnipeg 10-2 in the 3rd. But the Blackhawks were trailing in the game, and had a 5 on 3 Power Play. The point is that Chicago can’t get away with playing well for only 40 minutes out of 60. We know that the Blackhawks have enough talent to be competitive, they just need to be consistent. That consistency should come as they get more experience.
Projected Lines:
Greene - Bedard - Lardis
Bertuzzi - Frondell - Mikheyev
Donato - Nazar - Burakovsky
Teravainen - Lafferty - Slaggert
Vlasic - Crevier
Kaiser - Rinzel
Korchinski - Del Mastro
Knight
Sacha Boisvert did not play Tuesday. Blackhawks Head Coach Jeff Blashill said the following: “He’s not going to play every single game but he’ll play a good number of them. We give him a chance to get a feel for it, then you get a chance to watch it. So those are all good learning experiences. I don’t like sitting guys out for long…” He also went on to say that he wanted Sam Lafferty to rotate in. Personally, the Boisvert scratching makes sense. Jumping into the NHL can be a hard transition, and Boisvert could benefit from observing the game. Kevin Korchinski played 12:58 on Tuesday, and had 1 shot and 1 block. Perhaps because of the limited ice time, Korchinski has not stood out too much.
However, Louis Crevier continues to be an offensive bright spot for the team. He played 20:37 on Tuesday and had 2 assists. He has 21 points in 71 games and is only -1 on the entire season. For comparison, Artyom Levshunov is -41. Crevier looks to be a staple on the back end, where is a phenomenal value for a 7th round pick.
