Blackhawks get a big return ahead of tough matchup with Avalanche

Chicago Blackhawks (10-7-4, 24 pts) vs Colorado Avalanche (15-1-5, 35 pts)
6 pm CT – United Center
TV: CHSN (Ball/Pang)
Radio: WGN 720 AM (Wiedeman/Konroyd)

The Chicago Blackhawks are back at the United Center tonight as they look to snap their two-game losing streak. They could not have a tougher a opponent to try to right the ship against than the Colorado Avalanche. They come into tonight’s game on an eight-game winning streak and have only one regulation loss on the season.

The Blackhawks have hit the low point of the season with two bad back-to-back losses. After blowing a 2-0 third-period lead to the Seattle Kraken on Friday, they were run out of the building by the Buffalo Sabres, 9-3 on Saturday.

“We want to go out and play our very best every night, head coach Jeff Blashill said. “They’re one of the best teams in the league, but to me, it doesn’t change the way we look at things internally. Our focus is on us, much more so. We’re going to focus on our own team and making sure our game’s in a good spot.

“It’s only one loss, though. It doesn’t get magnified because it was by a certain amount of goals. It’s one loss, move on, we’re going to play a really good team here today.”

Jason Dickinson Returns

After being a full participant in practice for well over a week, Jason Dickinson says he’s good to go for tonight’s game. He admitted he rushed back from his upper-body injury, which only led to more time off. He wanted to be sure he was back to 100% before returning this time around.

Blashill is happy to have not only one of his veteran leaders back, but one of his best defensive forwards. The Blackhawks will need all the defense they can get against the Avalanche.

“I’d start with the fact he’s been out for a little while, so he’s going to have to work himself back in,” he said. “It just continues to get faster and faster out there. He’s coming into play the best team in the NHL right now, but when he’s going at his best, he just gives us a lot of great minutes. I think it’s really important to be able to go out and win shifts, but you also sometimes have to be able to go out and tie shifts, especially against the other team’s best. A lot of shifts come down to that. I’ve talked about how the growth of this team is all about the maturity of our team and the maturity of the individual players, and he has a mature game. So, I think when you add those guys in, you become a more mature team in a hurry. Excited to have him back in, left-shot face-off guy, PK guy, so it’ll be good to have him back in.”

I’m a little surprised Blashill isn’t going with 12 forwards tonight just because of the uncertainty of Dickinson in his first game back.

“I don’t think he’s a question mark,” he said of Dickinson. “If I did, I wouldn’t have him in. If I thought there was any concern about him coming out, he probably wouldn’t be in the lineup. I would say we’ve been very patient with him coming back here because we want to make sure when he comes in, he’s not going to go back out. Does that mean he’s not going to get hurt? No. Does that mean someone else isn’t going to get hurt? No. That’s the risk you run with 11, no matter what. We still think it’s the best setup for our team.”

The Mac Attack

Colorado is the best team in the NHL right now, and having the best player in the league is a big reason why. Nathan MacKinnon is the early-season favorite to win another Hart Trophy. He leads the league with 16 goals and 37 points.

The Dickinson line, with Ryan Donato and Ilya Mikheyev, will likely draw MacKinnon’s line for much of the night. The trick with a team like the Avalanche is that you have to make sure you don’t get beaten by somebody down the lineup. MacKinnon is going to do his thing, but if you limit the chances of the other three lines, you have a better chance at success.

“They’re playing fantastic hockey right now,” Dickinson said. “It’s not just MacKinnon. They’ve got a lot of guys who can impact the game. I’d love to match up against those guys and make it a challenging night, but they’ve got some depth to their lineup that can do some damage. This is a good test for us to bounce back from such a sh***y game in Buffalo, and show we can hang with a team that’s supposedly a Cup contender.”

Burakovsky in a “Good Spot”

Andre Burakovsky did not participate in today’s morning skate and will miss his second straight game tonight. Nobody likes missing a game, but missing one against a former team has to sting a little more than usual.

Blashill said he saw the veteran forward at team meetings yesterday and said he was “in a good spot.” He did not have a timeline for a return to the lineup, but was encouraged by seeing him on Saturday.

Season Series

11/23 vs COL
2/28 @ COL
3/20 vs COL

Blackhawks Team Leaders

G-Connor Bedard (13)
A-Bedard (18)
P-Bedard (31)
PPG-Tyler Bertuzzi (6)
GWG-Ryan Donato/Bedard (2)
SOG-Bedard (71)
PIM-Louis Crevier/Colton Dach (25)

Avalanche Team Leaders

G-Nathan MacKinnon (17)
A-MacKinnon/Cale Makar (20)
P-MacKinnon (37)
PPG-MacKinnon
GWG-4 players tied with 2
SOG-MacKinnon (90)
PIM-Josh Manson (26)

Blackhawks Team Stats

GF/G-3.29 (7th)
GA/G-2.86 (11th)
PP%-25.0 (7th)
PK%-82.7 (11th)
SOG/G-25.0 (30th)
SA/G-31.0 (29th)
FO%-46.3 (28th)
PIM/G-12:29 (29th)

Avalanche Team Stats

GF/G-4.14 (1st)
GA/G-2.29 (1st)
PP%-16.3 (24th)
PK%-86.6 (3rd)
SOG/G-33.4 (2nd)
SA/G-26.1 (9th)
FO%-49.3 (19th)
PIM/G-8:00 (11th)

Blackhawks Probable Lines

Forwards
Ryan Greene-Connor Bedard-Tyler Bertuzzi
Teuvo Teravaien-Frank Nazar-Oliver Moore
Ryan Donato-Jason Dickinson-Ilya Mikheyev
Colton Dach-Sam Lafferty

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

Scratched
F-Landon Slaggert

Injured
G-Laurent Brossoit (hip), F-Jason Dickinson (upper body), F-Nick Foligno (hand),

Avalanche Probable Lines

Forwards
Artturi Lehkonen-Nathan MacKinnon
Ross Colton-Brock Nelson-Gabriel Landeskog
Parker Kelly-Jack Drury-Victor Olofsson
Tristen Nielsen-Zakhar Bardakov-Jason Polin

Defensemen
Devon Toews-Cale Makar
Josh Manson-Brent Burns
Samuel Girard-Sam Malinski

Scratched
D-Ilya Solovyov

Injured
F-Gavin Brindley (lower body), Joel Kiviranta (lower body), F-Valeri Nichushkin (lower body), F-Logan O’Connor (hip), D-Jacob MacDonal (hip)

Goaltending Matchup

Spencer Knight (7-4-3, 2.47 GAA, .922 SV%, 1 SO) vs Scott Wedgewood (12-1-2, 2.23 GAA, .913 SV%, 0 SO)