Blackhawks Game Day: 3 things to watch against the Canucks

Chicago Blackhawks (2-2-1, 5 pts) vs Vancouver Canucks (2-2-0, 4 pts)
7:30 pm CT – United Center
TV: CHSN (Ball/Pang)
Radio: WGN 720 AM (Wiedeman/Roumeliotis/Chelios)

The Chicago Blackhawks are looking to end a 10-game losing streak against the Vancouver Canucks. They haven’t beaten the Canucks since Nov. 21, 2021, and their last win at the United Center was on Nov. 9, 2019.

Tonight can be a big night to catch the Canucks, as they played last night in Dallas. They erased a 2-0 deficit with four second-period goals, on their way to a 5-3 victory over the Stars. They have used a balanced offensive attack to their 2-2-0 record.

The Blackhawks are coming off a big 8-3 win against the St. Louis Blues and can extend their winning streak to three games. However, head coach Jeff Blashill has put the recent success into perspective.

“Today’s a new day, and so we spent some time this morning learning from our game the other day, and now we have to go out and play a good hockey game,” he said. “This league’s relentless. You have to be great every single night to have a chance, and so we have to make sure we come out with our best foot forward.

We’re 2-2-1. We talked about today, 2-2-1 is not a playoff team. 2-2-1 is not where guys want to be. We had a good win the other night, but that’s over, and let’s move forward here against Vancouver.”

Can Lukas Reichel Stay Consistent?

The NHL career of Lukas Reichel has been nothing short of a rollercoaster, with plenty of peaks and valleys. He is back to the top of the big hill after a goal and three points against the Blues on Wednesday. How far will the dip back down be? Hopefully, he starts to level it out soon, as this is his last chance to force himself into the long-term plans.

Reichel will be back with Ryan Greene tonight. The duo had a lot of success in St. Louis and got plenty of ice time with Connor Bedard. For what it’s worth, Landon Slaggert took line rushes with the duo this morning. He won’t play tonight, but if that is the eventual fourth line, it could cause match-up problems on a nightly basis. Their collective speed will be hard to keep up with for most bottom-six lines across the league. It is definitely a step up for Reichel from playing between Pat Maroon and Craig Smith.

Third Line Keeps Excelling

The Blackhawks’ third line of Ryan Donato, Jason Dickinson, and Ilya Mikheyev has been incredible the last two games. They are proving to the rest of the team that playing good defense will lead to more time on the offensive end.

 “That line’s been really, really good,” Blashill said. “I think all three components have been good on it, but I think what Ryan does is give them some scoring punch on that line.”

In the last two wins over Utah and St. Louis, the trio has a 70.0 Corsi for percentage (CF%) at 5-on-5.  They have outshot their opponents 18-7, outscored them 4-1, had a 17-5 shot attempt advantage, and have only allowed one high-danger scoring chance.

Spencer Knight Could Be the Streak Breaker

The Blackhawks have the right guy in goal tonight to try to end their 10-game losing streak against the Canucks. He is 2-0-0 against them in his career with a 0.96 goals-against average (GAA) and .976 save percentage (SV%).

The players on the current Canucks roster have 18 combined games against Knight. The only player with a goal is defenseman Marcus Pettersson. He will be facing former Blackhawks netminder Kevin Lankinen tonight. That will make Tyler Bertuzzi happy, as he’s scored three goals in five career games against the Finnish netminder.

Season Series

10/17 vs VAN
11/5 @ VAN
3/6 vs VAN

Blackhawks Team Leaders

G-Ilya Mikheyev (3)
A-Teuvo Teravainen (5)
P-Connor Bedard/Frank Nazar/Teravainen (6)
PPG-Tyler Bertuzzi/Andre Burakovsky/Bedard (1)
GWG-Burakovsky/Nazar (1)
SOG-Ryan Donato (12)
PIM-Louis Crevier (21)

Canucks Team Leaders

G-Brock Boeser/Kiefer Sherwood/Filip Chytil (3)
A-7 tied with 2
P-5 tied with 3
PPG-Quinn Hughes/Boeser(1)
GWG-Conor Garland/Chytil (1)
SOG-Garland (12)
PIM-5 tied with 4

Blackhawks Team Stats

GF/G-3.60 (6th)
GA/G-2.80 (10th)
PP%-18.8 (18th)
PK%-81.8(15th)
SOG/G-21.6 (29th)
SA/G-29.2 (22nd)
FO%-44.2 (29th)
PIM/G-14:24 (31st)

Canucks Team Stats

GF/G-3.25 (14th)
GA/G-3.00 (13th)
PP%-20.0 (16th)
PK%-81.3 (16th)
SOG/G-24.0 (26th)
SA/G-30.5 (27th)
FO%-45.5 (28th)
PIM/G-9:00 (19th)

Blackhawks Probable Lines

Forwards
Colton Dach-Connor Bedard-Andre Burakovsky
Teuvo Teravainen-Frank Nazar-Tyler Bertuzzi
Ryan Donato-Jason Dickinson-Ilya Mikheyev
Lukas Reichel-Ryan Greene

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

Scratched
F-Nick Foligno (personal leave), F-Sam Lafferty

Injured
G-Laurent Brossoit (knee), F-Joey Anderson (lower body), F-Landon Slaggert (lower body)

Canucks Probable Lines

Forwards
Drew O’Connor-Elias Pettersson-Conor Garland
Jake DeBrusk-Filip Chytil-Brock Boeser
Evander Kane-Aatu Raty-Keifer Sherwood
Arshdeep Bains-Max Sasson-Linus Karlsson

Defensemen
Quinn Hughes-Filip Hronek
Marcus Pettersson-Tyler Myers
Elias Pettersson-Victon Mancini

Scratched
F-Jonathan Lekkerimaki, D-P.O. Joseph

Injured
F-Teddy Blueger (undisclosed), D-Guillaume Brisbois (lower body), D-Derek Forbort (undisclosed), F-Nils Hoglander (lower body), D-Jett Woo (upper body)

Goaltending Matchup

Spencer Knight (1-2-0, 2.35 GAA, .920 SV%, 0 SO) vs Kevin Lankinen (0-1-0, 4.09 GAA, .886 SV%, 0 SO)