Blackhawks Game Day: 3 things to watch against the Wild

Chicago Blackhawks vs Minnesota Wild
7 pm CT – United Center
TV: CSSN (in market), ESPN+ (out of market)
Radio: WGN 720 AM

The Chicago Blackhawks and Minnesota will get together for the second and final time this preseason. Frank Nazar netted a hat trick in the Blackhawks' 4-1 win when these two teams got together last Sunday. They will look for more finish than they had in Tuesday night’s loss to the Detroit Red Wings.

Tonight will serve as a dress rehearsal, with both teams using lineups close to what we’ll see when the regular season begins. Spencer Knight is starting in net and is expected to play the entire game.

“As a group, hopefully we’re building chemistry,’ head coach Jeff Blashill said. “We’ve got a group of guys who seem to have fun together and want to be around each other. Chemistry is super important in a lot of different ways. Hopefully, we continue to build it through the course of the season.”

Nolan Allan Needs to Impress

The final two defensive spots are still up for grabs. It sure feels like Ethan Del Mastro is going to start the season in Rockford. This gives Nolan Allan an opportunity to make the team out of training camp for the second straight season.

Tonight is Allan’s third game of the preseason. He had had an impact on the game with his physicality in his firstt two outings. He will be playing on his natural left side tonight. He’s spent a lot of time in camp on the right side, including the game in Minnesota. Blashill says this will give him a chance to evaluate him playing in a more comfortable position.

“Last game, Nolan brought a good physicality,” said Blashill. “He brings an edge to his game that we’d like to have a lot of. I thought he did well in the last game. Be clean with the puck and defend well, that’s the expectation for him.”

Need More Power Play Success

The Blackhawks got six power-play chances against the Red Wings on Tuesday and failed to score on any of them. It wasn’t for a lack of trying, as they had 12 shots on goal with quite a few good scoring chances. However, goaltender Cam Talbot was up to the task and kept them all out.

Last season, the Blackhawks drew 242 penalties, the fourth-fewest in the entire National Hockey League. With the increased team speed to start the year, they should get a lot more power plays. Hopefully, they can get some success on the man advantage tonight to get the momentum rolling into the regular season. The young Blackhawks will likely struggle at 5-on-5, especially early on, so the more success they can have on special teams, the better.

Big Saves From Spencer Knight

Knight will make his third start of the preseason tonight. He’s given up five goals on 52 shots, for a .903 save percentage (SV%). Tonight, he and the young defense will be tested by the best lineup they have faced during the exhibition schedule.

Much like the power play, preseason stats don’t matter. But I’d like to see a big performance out of Knight tonight because the next time he starts, it will be against his former team, the Florida Panthers, on opening night. Getting some momentum and confidence can lead to a fast start to the regular season for Knight and the Blackhawks.

Probable Blackhawks Lineup

Forwards

Ryan Donato-Connor Bedard-Andre Burakovsky
Teuvo Teravainen-Frank Nazar-Tyler Bertuzzi
Landon Slaggert-Jason Dickinson-Ilya Mikheyev
Colton Dach-Nick Foligno-Sam Lafferty

Defensemen

Matt Grzelcyk-Sam Rinzel
Wyatt Kaiser-Artyom Levshunov
Nolan Allan-Connor Murphy

Goaltenders

Spencer Knight
Arvid Soderblom

Probable Wild Lineup

Forwards

Kirill Kaprizov-Marco Rossi-Matt Boldy
Danila Yurov-Joel Eriksson-Ek-Vladimir Tarasenko
Liam Ohgren-Ryan Hartman-Marcus Johansson
Marcus Foligno-Marco Sturm-Yakov Trenin