Blackhawks go for season sweep of red hot Stars

Chicago Blackhawks (23-29-10, 56 pts) @ Dallas Stars (38-14-10, 86 pts)
5 pm CT – American Airlines Center
TV: CHSN (Ball/Martinez)
Radio: WGN 720 AM (Wiedeman/Konroyd)

The Chicago Blackhawks and the Dallas Stars will wrap up their three-game season series tonight. The NHL’s youngest team can complete the season series with a victory after beating the Stars twice in five days earlier this season. Going undefeated against a top Stanley Cup contender would be a big confidence booster for the Blackhawks’ young core. However, Dallas comes in on an 11-game point streak (10-0-1), so this will be no easy task.

The Blackhawks are catching the Stars at a good time, as they are missing three key forwards. Mikko Rantanen, Roope Hintz, and Radek Faska are all out with injuries. That’s 37 goals and 130 points on the sidelines. They still have Jamie Benn and Matt Duchene, who have feasted against the Blackhawks in their career. They have combined for 40 goals and 107 points in 128 games.

Connor Bedard is riding a six-game point streak against Dallas, with four goals and two assists in that span. He is playing in his 200th NHL career game tonight. The newest Blackhawk, Andrew Mangiapane, has four goals and 10 points in his last 11 games against the Stars, including three goals and six points in his last six games at the American Airlines Center. Tonight is also Jeff Blashill’s 600th game as an NHL head coach.

Nick Lardis is Back

After yesterday’s practice, the Blackhawks recalled forward Nick Lardis and goaltender Drew Commesso from the Rockford IceHogs. With Spencer Knight still sick, Commesso was a necessary call-up. I knew Lardis would be back at some point, but I was not expecting it so soon, especially with the IceHogs playing in San Diego this weekend.

“It’s an opportunity,” Blashill said. “I thought he played pretty well when he was up here. There have been ups and downs in Rockford. He’s learning the consistency it takes to be a great player. It’s an opportunity for us to take another look at him and see where he’s at. Hopefully, he’ll help us win a game tomorrow night.”

Lardis wasn’t recalled to sit, so he’s expected to play tonight. With no morning skate, we don’t know exactly where he’ll slot in, but playing with Mangiapane and Landon Slaggert seems like the logical move.

Nazar Gaining Confidence

Frank Nazar entered this season on a high. He finished out last season playing great hockey and signed a new contract extension that will kick in next year. However, this season has been a struggle for the second-year forward. He’s had his season slowed down twice with injury and has been inconsistent for much of the year.

Hopefully, his goal against the Vancouver Canucks on Friday will get him going and help him finish the final 20 games of the season strong.

“He’s learning how to have the puck a lot,” Blashill said. “You get the puck a lot by, number one, winning puck battles, and, number two, by making sure you’re not careless with the puck. He did a much better job of that last night. When he got the puck more, he’s got to use his speed, which is his ‘superpower.’ A lot of this has to do with confidence. I thought he looked excellent today in practice, and that stems from the confidence you gather when you get results.”

Big Challenge for Penalty Kill

Tonight’s matchup features the top-ranked penalty kill versus the NHL’s second-best power play. Wyatt Johnston has been deadly on the man advantage. He leads the league with 21 power-play goals, five more than second-place Pavel Dorofeyev of the Vegas Golden Knights. He’s one shy of the franchise record, set by Dino Ciccarelli in 1986-87 when the team was in Minnesota.

Only the Edmonton Oilers have more power-play goals with 57. The Stars’ 55 goals already match their total in 82 games last season. They have scored a power-play goal in eight straight games. If they score one tonight, it will be the first time they’ve had a power-play goal in nine consecutive games since 2006.

The Blackhawks gave up a power-play goal to the Canucks on Friday. It was only the third one surrendered in the last 14 games, as they have killed off 31 of 34 penalties in that span.

Season Series

12/27 @ DAL, W 4-3 (SO)
1/1 vs DAL, W 4-3
3/8 @ DAL

Blackhawks Team Leaders

G-Tyler Bertuzzi (26)
A-Connor Bedard (32)
P-Bedard (57)
PPG-Bertuzzi (10)
GWG-Bedard/Bertuzzi (3)
SOG-Bedard (162)
PIM-Louis Crevier (47)

Stars Team Leaders

G-Jason Robertson/Wyatt Johnston (34)
A-Mikko Rantanten (49)
P-Robertson (74)
PPG-Johnston (21)
GWG-Robertson (6)
SOG-Robertson (220)
PIM-Rantanen (87)

Blackhawks Team Stats

GF/G-2.63 (27th)
GA/G-3.16 (20th)
PP%-19.3 (20th)
PK%-85.6 (1st)
SOG/G-24.5 (32nd)
SA/G-29.3 (24th)
FO%-46.7 (30th)
PIM/G-9:20 (23rd)

Blackhawks Probable Lines

Forwards
Ryan Greene-Connor Bedard-Andre Burakovsky
Ryan Donato-Frank Nazar-Teuvo Teravainen
Tyler Bertuzzi-Oliver Moore-Ilya Mikheyev
Nick Lardis-Andrew Mangiapane-Landon Slaggert

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

Scratched
D-Ethan Del Mastro, F-Sam Lafferty

Injured
G- Spencer Knight (illness)

Stars Probable Lines

Forwards
Jason Robertson-Wyatt Johnston-Mavrik Bourque
Sam Steel-Matt Duchene-Jamie Benn
Michael Bunting-Justin Hryckowian-Adam Erne
Colin Blackwell-Oskar Back-Nathan Bastian

Defensemen
Esa Lindell-Miro Heiskanen
Thomas Harley-Nils Lundkvist
Tyler Myers-Lian Bichsel

Scratched
D-Ilya Lyubushkin, D-Kyle Capobianco, D-Alexander Petrovic

Injured
F-Radek Faksa (lower body), F-Roope Hintz (lower body), F-Mikko Rantanen (lower body), F-Tyler Seguin (ACL)

Goaltending Matchup

Arvid Soderblom (6-10-2, 3.69 GAA, .876 SV%, 1 SO) vs Jake Oettinger (25-10-5, 2.70 GAA, .897 SV%, 2 SO)