Pre-Gamin’: Blackhawks vs. Panthers (7:30 CT) – Lineups, Broadcast Info, Game Thread, More

Oct 25, 2022

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)

Maurice said no lineup changes outside of Bob, so the lines should look like this tonight:

Verhaeghe – Barkov – Reinhart
Balcers – Bennett – Tkachuk
Luostarinen – Lundell – White
Lomberg – Cousins – Hornqvist

Forsling – Montour
Mahura – Gudas
Kiersted – Staal

Bob
Knight— Jameson Olive (@JamesonCoop) October 25, 2022

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.

Get Caught Up

Refs Kelly Sutherland and Justin Kea work #TimeToHunt #Blackhawks with Tyson Baker and Shandor Alphonso https://t.co/uVM6moVxYX #FLA #CHI #FLAvsCHI #FlaPanthers #Hawks #NHL pic.twitter.com/1YW1XOVVBJ— Scouting The Refs (@ScoutingTheRefs) October 25, 2022

Should We Be Happy the #Blackhawks Are Winning?https://t.co/LPhfgUoQ3I pic.twitter.com/vpXhym1YqJ
— Bleacher Nation Blackhawks (@BN_Blackhawks) October 24, 2022

One Timers: Blackhawks Feeling the Good Vibes, Aggressive Penalty Kill, No Goals for Kane, Morehttps://t.co/YIxKHy7yS4 pic.twitter.com/3w7E7BoNny— Bleacher Nation Blackhawks (@BN_Blackhawks) October 24, 2022

The Panthers and center Eric Staal agreed to terms on a one-year, one-way deal worth $750,000 on Friday, according to multiple reports.

Staal, 37, didn’t appear in any NHL games during the 2021-22 season.https://t.co/dly8wUNv6o— The Athletic NHL (@TheAthleticNHL) October 21, 2022

Panthers’ defenseman Aaron Ekblad is going on the long-term injured reserve, GM Bill Zito announced.

Ekblad is dealing with a Grade 2 groin strain, per multiple reports.https://t.co/0vzIxYMx9d— The Athletic NHL (@TheAthleticNHL) October 19, 2022

written by

Tab Bamford

Tab Bamford has been writing about the Chicago Blackhawks for almost two decades. He joined Bleacher Nation as the lead Blackhawks writer in May 2022. Tab is a member of the Professional Hockey Writers Association and is the author of two books about the Blackhawks: "100 Things Blackhawks Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die" (Triumph Books) and "Chicago Blackhawks: An Illustrated Timeline" (Reedy Press, 2021). Find him on Twitter/X/Instagram/Threads at @The1Tab

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