Blackhawks vs Sabres Preview, Projected Lines

Game 81 is here and the playoff bound Buffalo Sabres (49-23-8) are in town. The Blackhawks are dragging themselves to the finish in these last few games, the 82 game long schedule is starting to catch up the the first year pros such as Ryan Greene, Sam Rinzel, and Nick Lardis.

Photo by: Chicago Blackhawks

Coming off of 2 home ice losses, the Hawks are still trying to end the season by showing the fans how good they can be in the future. However, the big guns like Bedard, Knight, and Nazar have all been struggling lately. The only major bright spot in this final stretch has been Anton Frondell who has 3 goals and 9 points in his first 10 games.

Last game, Frank Nazar took a deflected pass from linemate Andre Burakovsky off of the face — a scary sight as Nazar was sidelined for an extended period of time with a broken jaw earlier in the year. Fortunately, he only needed a little bit of dental work. Nazar will play tonight according to Jeff Blashill. Defensemen Ethan Del Mastro will also play tonight. Del Mastro missed last game after being a late scratch due to injury. Forward Andrew Mangiapane was absent at practice today so his availability for tonight is unknown.

Another positive note — Alex Vlasic had a bit of a bounce back game against the Blues. He was on the ice for 11 chances for and only 1 against. It was silently one his best games in a long time. At 24 years old Vlasic is now considered the “veteran” on the back end. He has faced some criticisms this season for his all around play, and lack of physciality. It is pretty clear that this d-core needs some veteran leadership next season if they want to content for a playoff spot.

Projected Lines

Greene - Bedard - Lardis

Bertuzzi - Frondell - Mikheyev

Donato - Nazar - Burakovsky

Lafferty - Boisvert - Teravainen

Vlasic - Crevier

Kaiser - Rinzel

Korchinski - Del Mastro

Knight