Blackhawks need chaos to cool off red hot Wild

Chicago Blackhawks (10-8-4, 24 pts) vs Minnesota Wild (12-7-4, 28 pts)
7:30 pm CT – United Center
TV: CHSN (Ball/Pang)
Radio: WGN 720 AM (Wiedeman/Konroyd)

The Chicago Blackhawks are back in action tonight with their first of four regular-season meetings with the Minnesota Wild. They have dropped three straight games, equaling their longest losing streak of the season. They also lost the first three games of the season, and the first half of their recent six-game road trip.

Meanwhile, the Wild come in on a five-game winning streak and have gotten themselves back in a playoff position after a slow start. They haven’t changed much from previous incarnations of this team. They still don’t score a lot of goals, but they will make you work for yours.

Head coach Jeff Blashill says that Central Division games are not weighted any differently from other games on the schedule. His focus is on his team’s play and not on what the other side of the ice is doing. He knows what the Blackhawks have to do to get back into the win column tonight.

“We’ve got to play similar to the way we did against Seattle and Colorado, and find a way to win,” he said. “We’ve been in tons of those games this year and found a way to win. I wouldn’t say we were far off in either of those games. We have to continue to put ourselves in that position and do what we’ve done all year to find a way to win.”

Andre Burakovsky’s Still Uncertain

The last time we saw Andre Burakovsky in game action, he was hit in the head by Seattle Kraken defenseman Ryan Lindgren. He missed the previous two games, but was a full participant in Tuesday’s practice.

Blashill was still uncertain of Burakovsky’s playing status this morning, saying he is a game-time decision. If he does play, the Blackhawks will be about as healthy as they’ve been all season. He’s been so good with Connor Bedard and on the top power play. He’d be a huge addition against such a good defensive team as the Wild are.

In 30 career games against Minnesota, he has four goals and 18 points. He has yet to score a goal against tonight’s starting goaltender, Filip Gustavsson, in three games.

Wild Catching Fire

After a miserable start to the season, where the Wild had only nine points in their first 12 games, they have been one of the best teams in the Western Conference this month. They are 8-1-1 in their last 10 games with five straight wins. They are doing this while missing several key forwards with injury.

“They’re getting to their identity,” Blashill said of Minnesota. “They have some high-end players and some really good two-way players. They defend well. They defend hard. They attack the middle of the ice and don’t give up easy things. Obviously, they’re getting good goaltending, but you don’t have those types of numbers without playing really good defense. It’s going to be a night when we have to earn our offense. It will be similar to that Seattle game, when I wasn’t super pleased with our first period because I didn’t think we were ready for how hard it was going to be. This is probably that, even to another level.”

The Wild’s goaltending duo of Gustavsson and Jesper Wallstedt has been terrific since the calendar flipped to November. In their 11 games this month, they have allowed three or more goals only twice. They also have four shutouts, including their last two games. They haven’t allowed a goal in the last 121:06 of play.

A Way to Cause Chaos

This morning, Blashill was a believer in causing chaos to help beat a structurally sound team like the Wild. They will need to use their speed and skill to find holes in their defense and get them out of position.

One of the Blackhawks’ most significant weaknesses all season has been their lack of shots. They are 29th out of 32 teams, averaging 24.9 shots per game. Blashill has always said that scoring chances are more important than shot numbers, but he also wants his guys to shoot more, especially the defensemen.

“When we’ve been good, our d-men have been shooting, and it’s created chaos,” he said. “Again, against a team like this, it’s hard to get them out of structure. So, the only way to do it is when you shoot it, you create that chaos.”

The Blackhawks’ seven defensemen have combined for 161 shots this season. Sam Rinzel leads the bunch with 30, followed by Matt Grzelcyk with 29. Surprisingly, Wyatt Kaiser has the fewest with 17. In comparison, they have 10 more shots on goal than the Wild’s defenders, who are led by Brock Faber’s 52.

We’ll see how aggressive the blueliners get tonight. They definitely can cheat a bit more when Minnesota’s bottom six are on the ice, but then need to be careful when Kirill Kaprizov or Matt Boldy are over the boards.

Season Series

11/26 vs MIN
1/27 @ MIN
3/17 vs MIN
3/19 @ MIN

Blackhawks Team Leaders

G-Connor Bedard (13)
A-Bedard (18)
P-Bedard (31)
PPG-Tyler Bertuzzi (6)
GWG-Ryan Donato/Bedard (2)
SOG-Bedard (72)
PIM-Louis Crevier/Colton Dach (25)

Wild Team Leaders

G-Matt Boldy/Kirill Kaprizov (13)
A-Kaprizov (14)
P-Kaprizov (27)
PPG-Kaprizov (6)
GWG-Boldy/Danila Yurov/Marcus Johansson (3)
SOG-Kaprizov (78)
PIM-Marcus Foligno (30)

Blackhawks Team Stats

GF/G-3.14 (10th)
GA/G-2.77 (9th)
PP%-24.2 (6th)
PK%-83.3 (8th)
SOG/G-24.9 (29th)
SA/G-30.9 (28th)
FO%-46.8 (27th)
PIM/G-12:08 (29th)

Wild Team Stats

GF/G-2.87 (24th)
GA/G-2.78 (10th)
PP%-25.6 (5th)
PK%-75.9 (24th)
SOG/G-27.9 (16th)
SA/G-29.7 (24th)
FO%-47.8 (24th)
PIM/G-7:07 (2nd)

Blackhawks Probable Lines

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

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

Scratched
F-Landon Slaggert, F-Sam Lafferty

Injured
G-Laurent Brossoit (hip), F-Nick Foligno (hand)

Wild Probable Lines

Forwards
Kirill Kaprizov-Danila Yurov-Mats Zuccarello
Marcus Johansson-Joel Eriksson-Ek-Matt Boldy
Marcus Foligno-Nico Sturm-Yakov Trenin
Liam Oghren-Ben Jones-Tyler Pitlick

Defensemen
Jonas Brodin-Brock Faber
Jacob Middleton-Jared Spurgoen
Zeev Buium-Zach Bogosian

Scratched
F-Hunter Haight, D-Daemon Hunt

Injured
F-Ryan Hartman (lower body), F-Vinnie Hinostroza (lower body), F-Marco Rossi (lower body), Vladimir Tarasenko (lower body)

Goaltending Matchup

Spencer Knight (7-5-3, 2.38 GAA, .924 SV%, 1 SO) vs Filip Gustavsson (6-7-2, 2.79 GAA, .902 SV%, 2 SO)