Two hot teams will take the ice at the United Center on Saturday night. The Blackhawks have won three straight (I know, right?!?) while the Kraken ended the Bruins’ season-starting streak of not having a regulation loss on Thursday night and have won their last seven — six of which have been on the road. One streak will have to end tonight. The Blackhawks are expected to have Patrick Kane back in the lineup.
Broadcast Info
Puck Drop: 7:00 PM CT
TV: NBCSN
Radio: WGN 720 AM
Expected Lineups
Chicago Blackhawks
Philipp Kurashev — Max Domi — Patrick Kane
Tyler Johnson — Jonathan Toews — Taylor Raddysh
Andreas Athanasiou — Jason Dickinson — MacKenzie Entwistle
Reese Johnson — Sam Lafferty — Colin Blackwell
Jake McCabe — Seth Jones
Jack Johnson — Connor Murphy
Isaak Phillips — Caleb Jones
🥅 Petr Mrazek
Seattle Kraken
Jaden Schwartz* – Alex Wennberg – Jared McCann
Jordan Eberle- Matty Beniers – André Burakovsky
Oliver Bjorkstrand – Yanni Gourde – Eeli Tolvanen
Brandon Tanev – Morgan Geekie – Daniel Sprong
*Schwartz is a game-time decision.
Vince Dunn – Adam Larsson
Jamie Oleksiak – Justin Schultz
Carson Soucy – William Borgen
🥅 Martin Jones
Injury Report
Chicago Blackhawks
Jarred Tinordi and Jujhar Khaira are left on IR. Before the game, the Blackhawks took Kane off IR and sent Jaxson Stauber back to Rockford, which means Alex Stalock is healthy enough to be the backup tonight.
Seattle Kraken
Joonas Donskoi and Chris Driedger are on IR. If Jaden Schwartz can’t go tonight, Ryan Donato may draw in.
What to Watch For
- The Kraken haven’t lost this year. Seriously. They’re 7-0-0 since the calendar flipped to 2023.
- Mrazek gets his second consecutive start after an impressive performance against the Avalanche on Thursday night.
- When the Kraken visited the United Center on Oct. 23, Jonathan Toews won 12 of 17 faceoffs and picked up an assist. Tyler Johnson scored twice in the Blackhawks’ 5-4 comeback win that included two goals from Chicago in 13 seconds in the third period to turn the score. Max Domi also won 11 of 15 faceoffs that night.
- The Kraken come into the game ranked 31st in the NHL in tram faceoff percentage (45.2). Chicago still leads the NHL (56.6), just ahead of the closing Bruins (56.0).
- Martin Jones comes in with a 6-0-0 record in January. He’s allowed eight goals in the six games and has two shutouts this week (at Montreal and at Boston — handing the Bruins their first home regulation loss of the season). He has a 1.34 goals against average and .946 save percentage in January.
- During Seattle’s 7-game win streak, five skaters are at least at a point-per-game pace. Matty Beniers leads the team with five goals during the stretch, while defenseman Vince Dunn leads the team with 11 points in the seven games.