Pre-Gamin’: Blackhawks at Capitals (6:00 CT) — Lineups, Broadcast Info, Game Thread

It’s felt like much longer than three days since the Blackhawks last took the ice. Tonight, they start a three-game road trip that will see them play three games in four days. Hopefully they rested over their three-day mini-break.

Chicago takes on the Washington Capitals tonight for the first time in Washington in over three years. This is also the first game between the teams since October of 2019. Entering the month of December after a 7-5-0 November (6-3-0 under Derek King), the Blackhawks have climbed out of the cellar of the NHL but still rank in the bottom-third of the league at 7-12-2 on the season. With a 2-7-1 road record this season, the Blackhawks face a Capitals team that is leading the Metropolitan Division at 14-4-5 and has lost just once in regulation at home this season (7-1-3).

Broadcast Info

Puck Drop: 6:00 p.m. CT
TV: NBCSCH, ESPN+ (Out of market)
Radio: WGN 720 AM, TUDN 1200 AM (Spanish)

Expected Lineups

Blackhawks (7-12-2)

Hagel – Toews – Kane
DeBrincat – Dach – Strome
Kubalík – Borgström – Khaira
Hardman – Slavin – Carpenter

C. Jones – S. Jones
McCabe – Murphy
Kalynuk – Gustafsson
Stillman* (Game-Time decision) 

Fleury

Capitals (14-4-5)

Ovechkin – Kuznetsov – Protas
Sprong – Eller – Wilson
Hagelin – Dowd – Hathaway
Malenstyn – McMichael – Leason

Fehervary-Carlson
Orlov-Jensen
T. van Riemsdyk – Schultz

Vanecek

Injury Report

Blackhawks:

MacKenzie Entwistle (Week-to-Week – Ankle)
Tyler Johnson (Day-to-Day – Neck)
Calvin de Haan (Day-to-Day – Back)

Capitals:

Conor Sheary (Day-to-Day – Upper Body)
T.J. Oshie (Day-to-Day – Lower Body)
Anthony Mantha (Indefinite- Shoulder Surgery)
Niklas Backstrom (Week-to-Week – Hip)

What To Watch For

•   Chicago is allowing the league’s fewest goals against in 5v5 play (11) since Derek King took over on November 7. In the past five periods of play for the Blackhawks, they have held their opponent to single-digit shots on goal in four of them. The 22 shots allowed against San Jose were the second fewest in a game this season for Chicago. Washington, on the other hand, leads the league in goals scored (82) and 5v5 goals (61) in 23 games played this year. Alex Ovechkin, on the hunt to surpass Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goal-scoring record, has 19 goals in 23 games this season, second in the NHL.

•   Marc-André Fleury starts in net tonight for Chicago. He is no stranger to the Washington Capitals, playing in the intense rivalry between Washington and the Pittsburgh Penguins, and then facing the Capitals in the 2018 Stanley Cup Final with the Vegas Golden Knights. Fleury has lost back-to-back starts, but has only allowed four goals on 58 shots faced in those two games. Over his past six games, Fleury is 4-2-0 with a .954 save-percentage and a shutout.

•   Chicago’s powerplay over their past 12 games ranks dead-last in the NHL, converting at just a 3.3% rate. The Blackhawks have converted on just one of their last 30 opportunities. They have a new look in the lineup on the powerplay units and face a Capitals penalty-kill that ranks 11th in the NHL at an 83.6% kill-rate and are one of the least penalized teams in the league ranking fifth in times shorthanded per game this season at 2.65 penalty kills per game.

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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