Welcome back to the United Center, Chicago Blackhawks fans! You’ve waited over a year to come back and cheer on the Blackhawks and you get to watch ten rookies in the lineup tonight taking on a Dallas Stars team with nothing to play for. Even with this game meaning almost nothing, just watching in person, or from home, with natural fan noise coming from the stands and not hearing fake crowd noise from the PA system will make all the difference. The ten rookies in the lineup tonight are the most they have played in a single game this season.
Chicago comes into tonight’s game having just snapped a six-game losing streak (0-5-1) with an overtime win over the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday night. Since April 12th, Chicago has a 4-7-1 record, but just one of those four wins have come in regulation. The Blackhawks hold a 4-2-0 record over the Stars in six meetings this season and a win tonight or tomorrow will seal their third regular season series win of the year, having already won their season series’ against the Red Wings and Blue Jackets.
Broadcast Info
Puck Drop: 6:00 p.m. CT
TV: NBCSCH, BSSW, NHLN
Radio: WGN 720 AM / TUDN 1200 AM
Expected Lineups
Blackhawks (23-25-6, 52 pts)
Gaudette – Suter – Kane
DeBrincat – Kurashev – Hagel
Kubalík – Kämpf
Hardman – Entwistle – Hinostroza
Mitchell – Kalynuk
Zadorov – Regula
Murphy – Stillman
Beaudin
Lankinen
Stars (22-18-14, 58 pts)
Kiviranta – TBD – Pavelski
Roberstson – Benn – TBD
Cogliano – Faksa – Comeau
Dickinson – Kero – Gurianov
Lindell – Klingberg
Oleksiak – Heiskanen
Sekera – Hanley
Khudobin
Oettinger
Injury Report
Blackhawks:
Duncan Keith (Out for season – Concussion)
Brett Connolly (Out for season – Concussion)
Calvin de Haan (Day-to-day – Hip)
Ryan Carpenter (Day-to-day – Concussion)
Adam Boqvist (Out for season – Wrist)
Kirby Dach (Out for season – Wrist)
Brent Seabrook (LTIR – Retirement)
Zack Smith (LTIR – Back)
Andrew Shaw (LTIR – Retirement)
Alex Nylander (LTIR – Knee)
Jonathan Toews (LTIR – Illness)
Stars:
Alexander Radulov (IR – Lower body)
Ben Bishop (LTIR – Knee Surgery)
Stephen Johns (LTIR – Head Injury)
What To Watch For
• Alex DeBrincat is riding a a career-long five-game goal streak and a six-game point streak heading into the series against the Stars. Since February 2nd, DeBrincat is second in the league with 27 goals and his 29 goals overall are fifth in the NHL. His 1.04 points per game pace this year would be a new career high.
• Dominik Kubalík has seven points over his last eight games. His 36 points over 54 games this season is on pace for 55 points over an 82-game schedule, just about on the same pace from his rookie season in 2019-20. His 19 assists this season is ahead of the 16 he tallied last year.
• Kevin Lankinen starts tonight, his first start since May 1st against the Florida Panthers. Lankinen has been pulled from the game in two of his last four appearances and has allowed three or more goals in 10 of his last 11 appearances since April 1st. The 26-year-old rookie holds a 16-14-5 record with a .908 save percentage and a 3.04 GAA this season. His 36 starts/appearances this season are the most starts of any rookie goaltender and is tied for the most appearances of any rookie goalie in the league.
Get Caught Up …
Jeremy Colliton on the positives from this season: "I think we'll have 10 rookies tonight, and that doesn't count the young veterans. All of them have shown they can come in and handle the level."
— Mark Lazerus (@MarkLazerus) May 9, 2021
Rookies Pius Suter and Brandon Hagel are set to finish 4th and 5th in scoring for the #Blackhawks this season. The last time Chicago had two rookies finish a season in the top-5 of scoring on the team was in 2007-08 when Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews finished 1st and 3rd.
— Mario Tirabassi (@Mario_Tirabassi) May 9, 2021
Brandon Hagel on his season: "I've had a pretty good year I'd say… Just experiencing everything around the league, it really helped. As much as this year was crazy, just being around the guys constantly, playing games every second night, it definitely benefitted me."
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) May 9, 2021
Colliton: "We've got some fans in the building and we want to show them our best side."
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) May 9, 2021
Tonight 🤩 pic.twitter.com/96zaLdMMLI
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) May 9, 2021
#GoStars Sunday Media Zoom Update:
• Anton Khudobin will start in goal tonight at Chicago. It will be his 250th career NHL appearance.
• Roope Hintz & Tyler Seguin will not play the final 2 games of the year. Rick Bowness said they were still making decisions on who comes in.
— Owen Newkirk (@OwenNewkirk) May 9, 2021