Yup, another game against an undefeated opponent. The Blackhawks will play a rare mid-afternoon local game today in Las Vegas (3 PM local start) against a Golden Knights team that has already set the record for the best start from a defending Stanley Cup champion. Apparently they’re the only thing in Vegas that doesn’t get a hangover!
The Blackhawks face the Golden Knights in Chicago in their home opener and lost 5-3. Like a few other games already this season, the game was close until a couple third period lapses turned into goals. Vegas is a wagon and they’re not going to let up, so the Blackhawks focused a hard Thursday practice on battling for the puck. We’ll see if that inspires a better, 60-minute effort this evening.
Broadcast Info
Puck Drop: 5:00 PM CT
TV: NBC Sports Chicago
Radio: WGN 720 AM
Expected Lineups
Chicago Blackhawks
Nick Foligno โ Connor Bedard โ Philipp Kurashev
Jason Dickinson โ Lukas Reichel โ Taylor Raddysh
Tyler Johnson โ Ryan Donato โ Corey Perry
Boris Katchouk โ MacKenzie Entwistle โ Reese Johnson
Kevin Korchinski โ Seth Jones
Alex Vlasic โ Connor Murphy
Wyatt Kaiser โ Jarred Tinordi
🥅 Petr Mrazek
Vegas Golden Knights
Ivan Barbashev – Jack Eichel – Jonathan Marchessault
Paul Cotter – Chandler Stephenson – Mark Stone
Brett Howden – William Karlsson – Michael Amadio
William Carrier – Nicolas Roy – Keegan Kolesar
Brayden McNabb – Shea Theodore
Alec Martinez – Alex Pietrangelo
Nicolas Hague – Brayden Pachal
🥅 Aidan Hill
Injury Report
Chicago Blackhawks
- The Blackhawks are still without forwards Taylor Hall (shoulder) and Colin Blackwell (lower body).
Vegas Golden Knights
- Zach Whitecloud is still on LTIR.
What to Watch For
- Bedard scored a filthy power play against Vegas on his first shot at the United Center last Saturday. He found the same spot and ripped one home against Boston (that was taken off the board after review). I’m hoping to see him continue confidently shooting the puck and getting open on the power play.
- The new lines have all sorts of intrigue for me. Will they stick for the full 60 minutes?
“I think Connor’s the same as anybody,” Luke Richardson said about the offense on Thursday. We have to find a way to get shots off a little quicker. Even if it’s through a defenseman’s legs and you try to jump around him to get a rebound, a lot might not go in because it’s not the hardest shot, but sometimes you fool a goalie if you fire it through the legs and you have a guy driving the net. You get the good bounce and it’s a shot off the pad, rebound goal. Sometimes that just snaps you out of things as well.”
- Richardson said he likes afternoon games because there isn’t as much dead time in the day. This game starts at 3 PM local time in Vegas, so we’ll see what the atmosphere is in the arena. Every player I’ve talked to raves about it being one of the best places to play. Will it still be a hype show in the middle of the afternoon?