Pre-Gamin’: Blackhawks at Canadiens (6:00 PM CT) – Lineups, Broadcast Info, Game Thread

Tonight, Kirby Dach and the Montreal Canadiens host the Blackhawks in a game that could have implications on the NHL Draft Lottery. The Habs have an impressive collection of players… on IR right now. The Blackhawks are once again without their captain, who hasn’t played since before the All-Star Game. Chicago is playing the second game of a four-game Canadian road trip that has them in Toronto on Wednesday night, so rookie Jaxson Stauber gets the net.

Entering Valentine's Day action, there are nine (9) teams in the NHL with a sub-.500 point percentage. The #Blackhawks are second in the Bad for Bedard Sweepstakes facing another team on this list in Montreal tonight. pic.twitter.com/fmvHDnmzKf

— Bleacher Nation Blackhawks (@BN_Blackhawks) February 14, 2023

Broadcast Info

Puck Drop: 6:00 PM CT
TV: NBCSN
Radio: WGN 720 AM

Expected Lineups

Chicago Blackhawks 

Tyler Johnson — Jason Dickinson — Patrick Kane
Philipp Kurashev — Max Domi — Taylor Raddysh
Andreas Athanasiou — Sam Lafferty — Colin Blackwell
Boris Katchouk — MacKenzie Entwistle — Reese Johnson

Jake McCabe — Seth Jones
Jack Johnson — Connor Murphy
Jarred Tinordi — Caleb Jones

🥅 Jaxson Stauber

Montreal Canadiens

Rafaël Harvey-Pinard – Nick Suzuki – Josh Anderson
Evgeni Dadonov – Kirby Dach – Mike Hoffman
Joel Armia – Christian Dvorak – Jonathan Druin
Michael Pezzetta – Alex Belzile – Jesse Ylönen

Michael Matheson – Justin Barron
Jordan Harris – David Savard
Johnathan Kovacevic – Chris Wideman

🥅 Jake Allen

Injury Report

Chicago Blackhawks

Jujhar Khaira is on IR. Jonathan Toews is out (sick) and Alex Stalock is in concussion protocol.

Montreal Canadiens

Cole Caufield, Juraj Slafkovsky, Brendan Gallagher, Kaiden Guhle and Jake Evans are on IR. Sean Monahan and Paul Byron are on LTIR. And Arber Xhekaj is out.

What to Watch For

• Stauber will put his undefeated (3-0-0) record on the line tonight. He’s the only Blackhawk in the history of the franchise to win his first three appearances.

• I think we all (unfortunately) remember how Dach’s return to the United Center ended. We’ll see what he has in store for his former employer tonight.

• Will the Blackhawks start cutting back on the minutes of any of their trade assets? With teams interested in players like Jake McCabe, Sam Lafferty, Connor Murphy and Patrick Kane, will Luke Richardson continue giving them the same minutes as the deadline approaches?

• Just look at the list of players out injured for Montreal. This might be a night to bet the under.

Get Caught Up

When Do the Blackhawks Sit Jake McCabe to Protect His Trade Value?https://t.co/K8BUNQGmXm pic.twitter.com/ySTfELt175

— Bleacher Nation Blackhawks (@BN_Blackhawks) February 14, 2023

Chicago Blackhawks vs. Montréal Canadiens get refs Michael Markovic #31 and Tom Chmielewski #18 with Derek Nansen #70 and Jonathan Deschamps #80 on lines https://t.co/Nowq1WkGCb @NHLBlackhawks @CanadiensMTL #Blackhawks #GoHabsGo #CHIvsMTL pic.twitter.com/wD5EQievDd

— Scouting The Refs (@ScoutingTheRefs) February 14, 2023

Toews is still working out back in Chicago. He’s “probably” out for the next two games against the Canadiens and Maple Leafs. TBD for Friday at Ottawa.

— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) February 13, 2023

#Habs Kirby Dach says he learned a lot from Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane during his time with the #Blackhawks and is slowly starting to implement what he's taken from both players into his game now.

— Priyanta Emrith (@HabsInHighHeels) February 14, 2023

Kane on Dach, continued: "It’s not surprising that all of a sudden he’s starting to play a lot of minutes and playing in a good position and he’s producing. Happy for him."

— Mark Lazerus (@MarkLazerus) February 14, 2023