After three straight wins against the Sharks, Red Wings and Kraken, it gets real this week for the Blackhawks. Those three teams have a long climb if they hope to make the playoffs this year (or in the future). Tonight, the Blackhawks welcome the Florida Panthers to the United Center. They have a new head coach — some people call him (Paul) Maurice — who Hawks fans know well from his long tenure in Winnipeg and a few new faces on the ice but the core remains from last year’s Presidents’ Trophy winning team.
Broadcast Info
Puck Drop: 7:30 p.m. CT
TV: NBC Sports Chicago
Radio: WGN 720 AM
Expected Lineups
Chicago Blackhawks (3-2-0)
Andreas Athanasiou — Max Domi — Patrick Kane
Tyler Johnson — Jonathan Toews — Taylor Raddysh
Philipp Kurashev — Jason Dickinson — Sam Lafferty
Jujhar Khaira — MacKenzie Entwistle — Colin Blackwell
Jack Johnson — Seth Jones
Jarred Tinordi — Connor Murphy
Jake McCabe — Caleb Jones
Alex Stalock
Florida Panthers (4-1-1)
Injury Report
Chicago Blackhawks
Petr Mrazek won’t play this week (he’s on IR). It looks like Boris Katchouk is close to returning.
Florida Panthers
Aaron Ekblad is out (LTIR) and former Blackhawks forward Anthony Duclair is also out (IR).
What to Watch For
- Even though they won the Presidents’ Trophy last year, the Florida Panthers made a huge trade this summer to bring in Matthew Tkachuk (at the expense of Jonathan Huberdeau and MacKenzie Weegar). Tkachuk has eight points (three goals, five assists) in six games to start the season.
- Max Domi is winning 65.4 percent of his faceoffs and leads the Blackhawks with three goals. He’ll have his hands full against one of the best centers in the NHL tonight, Alexsander Barkov (or Sam Bennett or Anton Lundell, all of whom are really good).
- Former Blackhawks defenseman Gustav Forsling has really turned his career around in Florida. Chicago acquired him from Vancouver in 2015 for Adam Clendening (who’s back in Rockford this year). He was then traded to Carolina in the deal that brought Calvin de Haan to Chicago in 2019 but was dumped on waivers by the Canes. Florida claimed him and he’s become a valuable player on the Panthers’ blue line. He had 37 points in 71 games last year.