Blackhawks Game Day: 3 things to watch versus Kings

Chicago Blackhawks (4-2-2, 10 pts) vs Los Angeles Kings (3-3-3, 9 pts)
6 pm CT – United Center
TV: CHSN (Ball/Pang)
Radio: WGN 720 AM (Wiedeman/Konroyd)

The Chicago Blackhawks are back on home ice after a quick and successful trip to Tampa Bay on Thursday. They are looking for their first six-game point streak since November 2019, when Jeremy Colliton was head coach and the Blackhawks were getting game-winning goals from the likes of David Kampf, Brandon Saad, and Kirby Dach.

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Kings enter tonight on a four-game point streak themselves. They are playing their third game in the last four nights, and their previous four games have all gone past regulation, including last night’s 5-4 shootout loss to the Nashville Predators. Six of their first nine games have been on the road, so the Blackhawks are catching them at the right time.

Tyler Bertuzzi Out, Andre Burakovsky & Jason Dickinson Return

The Blackhawks haven’t been at full strength for most of the early season. Every time someone rejoins the lineup, someone else drops out. That is the case again tonight. Jason Dickinson will return to the ice tonight after missing the last two games with an upper-body injury.

Andre Burakovsky will also be back after missing Thursday’s game to be with his wife for the birth of their daughter. He loves it when the Kings show up on the schedule. In 25 career games against them, the veteran winger has seven goals and 22 points.

Tyler Bertuzzi will miss tonight’s game with an undisclosed injury. Head coach Jeff Blashill wouldn’t go into any details, but it doesn’t sound too serious. Ilya Mikheyev will take his place on the top line with Burakovsky and Connor Bedard.

Arvid Soderblom Gets the Start

Spencer Knight has gotten his flowers for his impressive start and for having the Blackhawks in a wild-card spot early in the season. Tonight, he will be watching from the bench as Arvid Soderblom will make his third start of the season. He hasn’t played since the 8-3 win against the St. Louis Blues 11 days ago. Blashill, a former goaltender, is not a fan of extended time off for his netminders.

“This is a test for guys that don’t play every night as a goalie in this league, when you have this kind of stretch where it’s been a while,” he said. “I didn’t like the break for either goalie. If Arvid had played in Tampa, Knighter was off for a while. It’s not a great setup in that aspect. He’s continued to put himself in a good position in practice and in his work with Jimmy Waite to make sure he’s sharp tonight. That’s the mental-toughness test that this league is. So, hopefully, he can come in and give us the really good goaltending that we’ve gotten all year.”

Soderblom has struggled in his three career starts against the Kings, posting a 4.41 goals-against average (GAA) and a .878 save percentage (SV%). He’ll face former Blackhawks Anton Forsberg in the visitor’s crease after Vezina Trophy finalist Darcy Kuemper played last night. Look for the top line to do some damage tonight as Mikheyev has four goals against Forsberg, and Bedard has two.

Curtain Call for Anze Kopitar

Kings captain Anze Kopitar returned from injured reserve last night, and tonight will be his last game at the United Center. The future Hall of Famer will hang up his skates after this season. Blashill called him a “winning center” cut from the same cloth as Jonathan Toews and Aleksander Barkov.

Kopitar has been able to play his two-way game at a level for a long time. He’s had at least 21 goals and 67 points in each of his last three seasons in his mid-30s. He was involved in some of the greatest games played between these two franchises in 2014 and 2015.

In 56 career regular-season games against the Blackhawks, he has 16 goals and 42 points, with two game-winning goals. Two of those 16 goals have come at the expense of Soderblom. In those back-to-back Western Conference Finals against the Blackhawks, Kopitar had one goal and seven points in 12 games. There is no doubt that his next stop will be the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.

Season Series

10/26 vs LAK
12/4 @ LAK
12/6 @ LAK

Blackhawks Team Leaders

G-Ryan Donato (5)
A-Teuvo Teravainen (7)
P-Frank Nazar (9)
PPG-Tyler Bertuzzi/Andre Burakovsky/Donato/Connor Bedard (1)
GWG-Donato (2)
SOG-Bedard (22)
PIM-Louis Crevier (21)

King Team Leaders

G-Adrian Kempe (5)
A-Kempe (7)
P-Kempe (12)
PPG-Andrei Kuzmenko
GWG-Kempe (2)
SOG-Kempe (31)
PIM-Jeff Malott (19)

Blackhawks Team Stats

GF/G-3.13 (15th)
GA/G-2.38 (4th)
PP%-18.5 (22nd)
PK%-83.8 (12th)
SOG/G-24.5 (30th)
SA/G-31.0 (27th)
FO%-48.7 (21st)
PIM/G-13:00 (29th)

Kings Team Stats

GF/G-2.78 (23rd)
GA/G-3.33 (21st)
PP%-24.0 (10th)
PK%-70.3 (25th)
SOG/G-30.0 (6th)
SA/G-27.9 (15th)
FO%-48.7 (21st)
PIM/G-10: (22nd)

Blackhawks Probable Lines

Forwards
Ilya Mikheyev-Connor Bedard-Andre Burakovsky
Teuvo Teravainen-Frank Nazar-Ryan Donato
Colton Dach-Ryan Greene-Jason Dickinson
Landon Slaggert-Nick Foligno

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

Scratched
F-Sam Lafferty

Injured
G-Laurent Brossoit (knee), F-Tyler Bertuzzi (undisclosed)

Kings Probable Lines

Forwards
Andrei Kuzmenko-Anze Kopitar-Adrian Kempe
Kevin Fiala-Quinton Byfield-Alex Laferriere
Warren Foegele-Phillip Danault-Trevor Moore
Joel Armia-Alex Turcotte-Corey Perry

Defensemen
Brian Dumoulin-Drew Doughty
Joel Edmundson-Brandt Clarke
Mikey Anderson-Cody Ceci

Scratched
D-Jacob Moverare, F-Jeff Malott

Injured
D-Angus Booth (lower body), D-Kyle Burroughs (upper body)

Goaltending Matchup

Arvid Soderblom (1-0-1, 3.46 GAA, .881 SV%, 0 SO) vs Anton Forsberg (1-1-1, 3.89 GAA, .880 SV%, 0 SO)