Blackhawks and Blues wrap up season series with Hall of Fame game

Chicago Blackhawks (28-37-14, 70 pts) vs St. Louis Blues (33-33-12, 78 pts)
4 pm CT – United Center
TV: CHSN (Ball/Granato)
Radio: WGN 720 AM (Wiedeman/Konroyd)

The Chicago Blackhawks and St. Louis Blues will wrap up their four-game season series. The Blackhawks have won two of the first three games, both blowouts. There is some extra motivation today because if the Blackhawks win in regulation, the Blues will be officially out of playoff contention. Getting to end your rival's season should make you feel good at the end of the day.

With the Blues’ season on the line, they should come out playing desperate hockey. The Blackhawks need to be ready to match that and not give up another goal in the first minute. After such a dismal result against the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday, we'd better see an extra jump in their step right from the opening draw.

“They want to win,” head coach Jeff Blashill said. “Nobody does their job perfect every day. We didn’t have a great night last night, but they had a great day today. Let’s see if we can have a great day tomorrow. Sometimes score matters, sometimes the emotion of games, like I thought we were playing decent at the beginning of the season, then we get scored on there, it’s kind of like, whatever, there’s momentum that goes in games. It got away from us, so let’s regroup.

Change to the Top Line

Blashill made a couple of changes to his lineup at practice yesterday. Ryan Greene is back on the top line with Connor Bedard and Nick Lardis. Teuvo Teravainen was moved back down to the fourth line. Bedard and Lardis need someone on that line who can win puck battles and keep possession. Greene will do a better job of that than Teravainen.

Lardis had two prime scoring chances on Thursday but was unable to cash in on either.

“Unfortunately, the line isn’t producing to the level it had earlier in the season when Burky, Greener, and Bedsy were producing, all at a high level,” Blashill said. “That doesn’t fall on Lardis, doesn’t fall on Burakovsky, it falls on all of them, that the puck just hasn’t gone in to the level it once did for us, and probably that it’s done for those individuals.

Certainly, Lard’s a guy you can look at who has scored at levels beneath the NHL on a consistent basis. In the pros, he’ll finish with somewhere around 30 goals as a first-year pro. That’s a really good year. But it’s hard at this level. He didn’t win enough battles. He’s an undersized guy; he’s going to have to win more battles, but I’m leaving him up there and giving him a chance to do it tomorrow.”

Boisvert Finally Makes Home Debut

After being a healthy scratch for the last two home games, Sacha Boisvert will play in front of the home crowd for the first time tonight. He was reinserted onto the fourth line with Teravainen and Andrew Mangiapane. The Blues have a “traditional” fourth line of three guys who are physical and play a heavy game. If Boisvert wants to engage in physicality, he will get plenty of chances to do so.

Through his first six NHL games, in very limited ice time, the 2024 first-round pick has a goal, four shots on goal, 10 shot attempts, six individual scoring chances, and two high-danger chances. He’s had a fight, drawn two penalties while dishing out eight hits. Those are actually decent numbers for a rookie playing under nine minutes a night.

Hall of Famers Honored

The Blackhawks inducted their first Hall of Fame class on Friday. Glenn Hall, Keith Magnuson, Pierre Pilote, Chris Chelios, Bobby Hull, Denis Savard, Stan Mikita, Tony Esposito, Marian Hossa, Duncan Keith, Steve Larmer, and Troy Murray were the inaugural inductees. They will be honored during today’s game, which should serve as some extra inspiration to this young group.

“Today and tomorrow, those are examples of what it’s like when you win and how important it is and how revered you are,” Blashill said on Friday. “We’ve had multiple of those this year because it’s the 100th anniversary, because Jonathan Toews came back, all those moments have been great. It’s one thing to be a guy who puts up points or whatever; it’s another thing to be a guy who brings winning to a city like this. I think it’s the best sports city in the world, and so when you win here, it’s obviously a pretty neat feeling, talking to all the guys who have done that. I think it’s a great thing.”

Season Series

10/15 @ STL, 8-3 W
12/12 @ STL, 2-3 L
1/7 vs STL, 7-3 W
4/11 vs STL

Blackhawks Team Leaders

G-Tyler Bertuzzi (32)
A-Connor Bedard (42)
P-Bedard (72)
PPG-Bertuzzi (11)
GWG-Bedard (5)
SOG-Bedard (220)
PIM-Louis Crevier (61)

Blues Team Leaders

G-Robert Thomas (22)
A-Thomas (36)
P-Thomas (58)
PPG-Dalibor Dvorsky (5)
GWG-Jimmy Snuggerud (7)
SOG-Jordan Kyrou (166)
PIM-Tyler Tucker (81)

Blackhawks Team Stats

GF/G-2.54 (31st)
GA/G-3.27 (25th)
PP%-17.7 (26th)
PK%-84.0 (2nd)
SOG/G-24.6 (32nd)
SA/G-30.2 (31st)
FO%-46.0 (31st)
PIM/G-8:53 (18th)

Blues Team Stats

GF/G-2.65 (29th)
GA/G-3.08 (21st)
PP%-17.4 (28th)
PK%-76.2 (27th)
SOG/G-25.2 (31st)
SA/G-27.7 (15th)
FO%-49.3 (19th)
PIM/G-7:56 (10th)

Blackhawks Probable Lines

Forwards

Ryan Greene-Connor Bedard-Nick Lardis
Tyler Bertuzzi-Anton Frondell-Ilya Mikheyev
Ryan Donato-Frank Nazar-Andre Burakovsky
Andrew Mangiapane-Sacha Boisvert-Teuvo Teravainen

Defensemen

Alex Vlasic-San Rinzel
Wyatt Kaiser-Louis Crevier
Kevin Korchinski-Ethan Del Mastro

Scratched

F-Sam Lafferty, F-Dominic Toninato, F-Landon Slaggert

Injured

F-Oliver Moore (lower body), D-Matt Grzelcyk (upper body), D-Artyom Levshunov (hand)

Blues Probable Lines

Forwards

Dylan Holloway-Robert Thomas-Jimmy Snuggerud
Otto Stenberg-Dalibor Dvorsky-Jordan Kyrou
Jake Neighbours-Pavel Buchnevich-Jonatan Berggren
Alexey Toropchenko-Jack Finley-Nathan Walker