NEWSLETTER
The Chicago Blackhawks put their four-game winning streak on the line tonight as they take on the high-octane offense of the Edmonton Oilers. It’s the second game of a four-game West Coast road trip for a Chicago, coming off a win over the Seattle Kraken in the first game of the trip on Wednesday night.
The Oilers are led by the top-two scorers in the NHL this season with Leon Draisaitl (33 points) and Connor McDavid (30 points) powering the Edmonton offense that is scoring the second-most goals per game (3.81) and holds the top Powerplay unit (40.8%) in the league. Chicago is allowing the seventh-most goals per game (3.31) this season, but has only allowed six goals combined over their four-game winning-streak under interim head coach Derek King.
Broadcast Info
Puck Drop: 9:00 p.m. CT
TV: NBCSCH, ESPN+ (Out of Market)
Radio: WGN 720 AM, TUDN 1200 AM (Spanish)
Expected Lineups
Blackhawks (5-9-2)
DeBrincat – Dach – Kane
Kubalík – Toews – Hagel
Borgström – Strome – Khaira
Kurashev – Carpenter – R. Johnson
*Hardman
C. Jones – S. Jones
McCabe – Murphy
Stillman – Gustafsson
Lankinen
Oilers (12-4-0)
Hyman – McDavid – Puljujarvi
Nugent-Hopkins – Draisaitl – Yamamoto
Foegele – McLeod – Kassian
Benson – Sceviour – Turris
Keith – Ceci
Broberg – Barrie
Russell – Bouchard
Skinner
Injury Report
Blackhawks:
MacKenzie Entwistle (Week-to-Week – Ankle)
Tyler Johnson (Day-to-Day – Neck)
Oilers:
Darnell Nurse (Week-to-Week – Finger)
Slater Koekkoek (Week-to-Week – Lower Body)
Derek Ryan (Day-to-Day – Concussion)
Devin Shore (Week-to-Week – Lower Body)
Mike Smith (Week-to-Week – Lower Body)
What To Watch For
• Tonight will be the first time that the Blackhawks will face former defenseman Duncan Keith. The future Hall of Famer was traded in the offseason to the Oilers in a deal that landed Chicago Caleb Jones. After spending 16 season with Chicago as the No. 1 defenseman, Keith has come to Edmonton in a lesser role, but will be looked to to pick up the slack left by Darnell Nurse being injured and expected to miss a few weeks. Another former Edmonton connection tonight is Jujhar Khaira playing his former Oilers club.
• Brandon Hagel makes his return to the Blackhawks’ lineup tonight after missing the past three games. Hagel has been one of, if not the most effective forwards when in the lineup this season for the Blackhawks. Hagel is sixth in the Blackhawks forwards group for ice-time this season at 16:20 minutes per game, but less than three minutes per game come on special teams. All six of Hagel’s points this season have come at even-strength and he ranks first on the team in Corsi-For% (55.37), Shots-For% (53.13), and Scoring Chances-For% (51.57), as well as ranking second in High-Danger Chances-For% (55.00) and Expected Goals-For% (47.26) all at 5v5.
• Kevin Lankinen gets the start tonight, looking for his second win of the season after getting into the win column for the first time this year in his last start. He is 1-2-2 on the year with a 3.11 GAA and an .891 save-percentage for the season, but made 20 saves on 21 shots in his last outing.
Get Caught Up
Kevin Lankinen will start tonight vs. Edmonton.
Brandon Hagel (shoulder) and Mike Hardman (illness) will return to the lineup.
Calvin de Haan probably going to be out as he nurses sore wrist but is listed as game-time decision. #Blackhawks
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) November 20, 2021
Hagel says his shoulder injury — an AC joint sprain — feels good and he’ll play tonight (in front of a bunch of family), less than 2 weeks after the injury.
“It was a relief just hearing how long it was going to be. I was really worried. I’ve never been injured before.”
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) November 20, 2021
Blackhawks interim coach Derek King on facing the Oilers: "It’s a big test for us. The big thing here is we’ve just got to stick with our structure. … You might have to dump the puck in and get it behind them 50 times before you get that great scoring chance."
— Phillip Thompson (@_phil_thompson) November 20, 2021
Kirby Dach: "Nobody wants to see a coach get fired. It kind of lit a fire under our arse."
Yes, he said "arse."
— Mark Lazerus (@MarkLazerus) November 20, 2021
Caleb Jones on facing Oilers: "I wouldn't say it's much warm and fuzzy… Some friendships, but when you get on the ice, you definitely have that competitive edge — you want to show them that they traded me and they shouldn't have done that."
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) November 20, 2021
https://twitter.com/BSchweinsteiger/status/1462134307758215176?s=20
