The media room was a little more busy after the Blackhawks’ morning skate on Tuesday because a team from New York is in town. The Islanders, riding a three-game win streak, come into the United Center with hopes of keeping their vibe in the right place while Chicago looks to end a three-game losing streak on their home ice.
Head coach Luke Richardson is making one tweak to the forward group, bumping MacKenzie Entwistle up to the third line and replacing Colin Blackwell with Jujhar Khaira for tonight. Khaira will center the fourth line.
Broadcast Info
Puck Drop: 7:30 p.m. CT
TV: NBC Sports Chicago+ (plus, not the original)
Radio: WGN 720 AM
Expected Lineups
Chicago Blackhawks (4-3-0)
Andreas Athanasiou — Max Domi — Patrick Kane
Philipp Kurashev — Jonathan Toews — Taylor Raddysh
MacKenzie Entwistle — Jason Dickinson — Sam Lafferty
Boris Katchouk — Jujhar Khaira — Reese Johnson
Jake McCabe — Jack Johnson
Jarred Tinordi — Connor Murphy
Filip Roos — Caleb Jones
Alex Stalock
New York Islanders (5-4-0)
Josh Bailey – Mathew Barzal – Oliver Wahlstrom
Anders Lee – Brock Nelson – Anthony Beauvillier
Zach Parise – JG Pageau – Kyle Palmieri
Matt Martin – Casey Cizikas – Cal Clutterbuck
Adam Pelech – Ryan Pulock
Alexander Romanov – Noah Dobson
Sebastian Aho – Scott Mayfield
Ilya Sorokin
Injury Report
Chicago Blackhawks
Still no Petr Mrazek, Tyler Johnson or Seth Jones.
New York Islanders
n/a
What to Watch For
Islanders President and GM Lou Lamoriello has long wanted to acquire Patrick Kane, going back to his days in New Jersey. So don’t be surprised if the Islanders keep winning games if they’re linked to 88 at some point in serious rumors.
Jonathan Toews has been the hottest offensive player for the Blackhawks of late. He has a five-game point streak going right now (three goals, two assists), leads the team with five total goals this season and ranks second on the team in points with seven. He’s enjoyed success against the Isles in his career; the Captain has 16 points in 19 career games against them.
Special teams could play a role in this one, though I doubt it. The Blackhawks’ penalty kill has been ugly for the past week and ranks 26th in the NHL (74.4 percent) but the Islanders’ power play is one of the worst in the entire league, ranking 28th (10.7 percent). On the flip side, the Hawks rank fifth in the NHL on the power play (27.6 percent) but will face the league’s top-ranked penalty kill unit tonight (96.7 percent.
Mathew Barzal is off to a hot start for the Islanders, recording ten assists in their first nine games.
The Islanders lead the NHL with nine goals from defensemen and have 23 points from their back end, which is second in the league.
This Islanders team has been together for a looooong time. According to their team pregame notes, Matt Martin will play his 695th game as an Islander, passing Pat Flatley for ninth in Islanders history. Casey Cizikas will play his 674th game as an Islander, tying him with Billy Smith for the 12th most games played in Islander history. Anders Lee will tie Frans Nielsen for 18th with 606 games played, and Cal Clutterbuck will tie Gary Howatt for 21st with 596 games played. That’s one-third of their forwards with almost/over 600 games played with the organization.
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