Blackhawks conclude road trip against stingy Senators

Chicago Blackhawks (13-15-6, 32 pts) @ Ottawa Senators (16-13-4, 36 pts)
2 pm CT – Canadian Tire Centre
TV: CHSN (Ball/Pang)
Radio: WGN 720 AM (Wiedeman/Konroyd)

The Chicago Blackhawks are in Canada’s capital to conclude their three-game road trip and season series with the Ottawa Senators. They were in a much different place for the first game of the series. Connor Bedard scored his first career hat trick in a 7-3 win, as everything was going the Blackhawks’ way during the season’s opening month.

Fast forward to today, and the Blackhawks are struggling to score goals. They are 0-3-0 since Connor Bedard’s injury and 3-10-2 in their last 15 games. They are spiraling out of relevance and need to pull the nose up before the season is completely lost.

Meanwhile, the Senators enter today’s game four points out of a playoff spot in an incredibly tight Eastern Conference, where every team has at least a .500 points percentage. They cannot afford to lose a game to a struggling Blackhawks team on home ice.

Kid Line Split Up?

Head coach Jeff Blashill used yesterday’s practice in Ottawa to change up his line combinations. He split up the “Kid Line” of Nick Lardis, Ryan Greene, and Oliver Moore. He said it made sense to put them together because they were comfortable with each other, but the reality in the NHL is that it’s difficult to carry a line.

Moore was put on the second line with Jason Dickinson and Ilya Mikheyev. Greene was centering Ryan Donato and Teuvo Teravainen. Meanwhile, Lardis was down on the fourth line with Sam Lafferty and Colton Dach.

“Ultimately, the Frank Nazar line was productive,” he said yesterday. “Both from my eyes, from scoring a goal, to the analytics. They carried a lot of the play. The other lines, potentially, give a little veteran presence to Greenie. Moorsie gets a chance to play on a line that fits some of his skill sets, with his speed.”

Blashill said these aren’t necessarily the lines today, so we’ll see when they take the ice for pregame warmups. The thought of Lardis playing with Lafferty and Dach makes zero sense. He’s a pure shooter and needs to be on a line with someone who can get him the puck. Teravainen feels like the perfect linemate for him. This team is struggling to produce shots, so you put your best shooter on a line with nobody who can feed him the puck? If this is where Lardis is going play, you might as well send him back to Rockford.

Sounding Like a Broken Record

I feel like I write this before every game, but the Blackhawks need to shoot more. They are currently 26th in the NHL in 5-on-5 shot attempts and 24th in shots on goal. Frankly, I’m surprised they aren’t even lower, as their overall shots on goal average is 30th out of 32 teams. They only managed 15 shots on goal in their loss to the Montreal Canadiens last time out.

They might have a hard time even getting to 15 shots on goal today, as shot suppression is one of the Senators’ top attributes. At 5-on-5, they have allowed the second-fewest shot attempts and fourth-fewest shots on goal. A team struggling to shoot versus a team good at preventing shots could make for a long day in Ottawa.

History on the Blackhawks Side

Even though everything is going badly right now, the Blackhawks have enjoyed a lot of success against the Senators. Their 7-3 win in October improved their record to 13-1-1 over their last 15 games versus Ottawa. They are 8-1-1 in their previous 10 trips to Canada’s capital.

Nazar, who snapped his 21-game goal drought on Thursday, has points in back-to-back games against the Senators, including an overtime goal last April in Ottawa. Today’s probable starting goaltender, Spencer Knight, has won four of his five career starts against them and earned one shutout. However, he’s needed some goal support to get it done as he’s posted a 3.39 goals-against average (GAA) and .888 save percentage (SV%) in those five games. Goal support seems like a luxury these days, but maybe we’ll get one of those “Christmas miracles” that we see on TV this time of year.  

Season Series

10/28 vs OTT. W 7-3
12/20 @ OTT

Blackhawks Team Leaders

G-Connor Bedard (19)
A-Bedard (25)
P-Bedard (44)
PPG-Tyler Bertuzzi (8)
GWG-Bedard (3)
SOG-Bedard (103)
PIM-Colton Dach (43)

Senators Team Leaders

G-Tim Stützle (15)
A-Stützle/Drake Batherson (19)
P-Stützle (34)
PPG-Dylan Cozens (6)
GWG-Stützle (3)
SOG-Stützle (84)
PIM-Nick Cousins (31)

Blackhawks Team Stats

GF/G-2.76 (25th)
GA/G-3.03 (16th)
PP%-20.8 (11th)
PK%-84.2 (4th)
SOG/G-25.5 (30th)
SA/G-30.3 (29th)
FO%-46.2 (30th)
PIM/G-10: (29th)

Senators Team Stats

GF/G-3.09 (13th)
GA/G-3.15 (21st)
PP%-25.7 (5th)
PK%-71.1 (31st)
SOG/G-25.2 (29th)
SA/G-25.6 (4th)
FO%-56.5 (2nd)
PIM/G-8:27 (15th)

Blackhawks Probable Lines

Forwards
Andre Burakovsky-Frank Nazar-Tyler Bertuzzi
Ilya Mikheyev-Jason Dickinson-Oliver Moore
Ryan Donato-Ryan Greene-Teuvo Teravainen
Sam Lafferty-Colton Dach-Nick Lardis

Defensemen
Alex Vlasic-Louis Crevier
Matt Grzelcyk-Artyom Levshunov
Wyatt Kaiser-Connor Murphy

Scratched
F-Dominic Toninato, D-Ethan Del Mastro

Injured
F-Nick Foligno (hand), F-Connor Bedard (upper body)

Senators Probable Lines

Forwards
Brady Tkachuk-Tim Stützle-Fabian Zetterlund
David Perron-Dylan Cozens-Drake Batherson
Michael Amadio-Ridly Greig-Claude Giroux
Kurtis MacDermid-Stephen Halliday-Nick Cousins

Defensemen
Jake Sanderson-Artem Zub
Thomas Chabot-Nick Jensen
Tyler Kleven-Nikolas Matinpalo

Scratched
F-Olle Lycksell, D-Jordan Spence

Injured
F-Shane Pinto (lower body), F-Lars Eller (broken foot)

Goaltending Matchup

Spencer Knight (10-9-5, 2.55 GAA, .914 SV%, 2 SO) vs Linus Ullmark (13-8-4, 2.89 GAA, .884 SV%, 1 SO)