Pre-Gamin’: Blackhawks at Predators (7:00 CT) – Lineups, Broadcast Info, Game Thread

The Chicago Blackhawks open their first two-game series against the Nashville Predators in Nashville tonight.

The first game of back-to-back contests against their honky-tonk rivals, Chicago will be without key lineup pieces Alex DeBrincat and Adam Boqvist for the foreseeable future after both players were placed on the NHL’s COVID-19 Protocol list. Looking to build off their back-to-back wins over the Detroit Red Wings, the Blackhawks finally have momentum and confidence in their game and look to take advantage of a Predators team that has lost three-straight games in regulation.

Broadcast Info

Puck Drop: 7:00 p.m. CT
TV: NBCSCH, FS-TN
Radio: WGN 720 AM

Expected Lineups

Blackhawks (2-3-1, 5 pts)

Janmark – Suter – Kane
Kubalík – Strome – Kurashev
Highmore – Söderberg– Shaw
Hagel – Kämpf – Carpenter

Keith – Carlsson
De Haan – Mitchell
Zadorov – Murphy

Subban
Lankinen

Predators (2-3-0, 4 pts)

Forsberg – Johansen – Arvidsson
Granlund – Duchene – Kunin
Cousins – Haula – Sissons
Trenin – Richardson – Olivier

Josi – Ellis
Ekholm – Fabbro
Borowiecki – Benning

Rinne
Saros

Injury Report

Blackhawks:

Brent Seabrook (IR – Lower Back)
Zack Smith (IR – Back)
Kirby Dach (LTIR – Out 4-5 months – Wrist)
Alex Nylander (LTIR – Out 4-6 months – Knee)
Jonathan Toews (LTIR – Illness)
Alex DeBrincat (Day-to-day – COVID Protocol)
Adam Boqvist (Day-to-day – COVID Protocol)

Predators: 

Calle Järnkrok (IR – Undisclosed – Day-to-day)
Luca Sbisa (IR – Upper Body)

What To Watch For

•   The Blackhawks powerplay is off to a hot start with eight goals in the first six games of the season. Chicago has scored in every game on the powerplay to start the year, it’s best start to a season since 1990-91. The Predators have one of the worst penalty-kills in the league. Look for the Blackhawks to try to exploit that matchup on the man-advantage.

•   Malcolm Subban makes his first start since the opening night of the season. Subban lost the opening game to the Tampa Bay Lighting and has seen Collin Delia and Kevin Lankinen get multiple starts ahead of him. With the emergence of Lankinen in the last three games, the opportunity is Subban’s to make a statement of his own that the goaltending starting spot is still not locked up just yet.

•   Nashville enters tonight on a three-game losing streak. After taking their first two games of the year, they are behind the Blackhawks in the Central Division standings, somewhere I’m sure they never figured to be at any point this year. Expect the Predators to come out hot with a bit of desperation to avoid dropping a fourth-straight contest, in a season where every point and every game means more.

Get Caught Up …

written by

Mario Tirabassi is a writer for Bleacher Nation. You can follow him on Twitter @Mario_Tirabassi.

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