Blackhawks ready to host Jets & team legend

Chicago Blackhawks (19-22-7, 45 pts) vs Winnipeg Jets (19-22-6, 44 pts)
7:30 pm CT – United Center
TV: CHSN (Ball/Pang)
Radio: WGN 720 AM (Wiedeman/Konroyd)

A lot of Chicago Blackhawks fans circled this date on their calendars before the season started. I don’t think many of them would have predicted that the Blackhawks would have more points than the Winnipeg Jets when Jan. 19 finally arrived.

The reigning Presidents’ Trophy winners have struggled all season long and have only recently gotten themselves out of the Western Conference’s cellar. They have played much better of late, entering tonight on a five-game point streak that started with four straight wins. The Blackhawks are heading in the opposite direction with three straight losses, and followed up their own four-game winning streak with losses in four of the last five games.

Tonight is the second of four games between these two teams. The Jets beat the Blackhawks 6-3 back on Oct. 30. Connor Bedard had two assists in that game and has a three-game point streak against the Jets. He has four goals and eight points in seven career games versus Winnipeg.

Andre Burakovsky, who scored in the first meeting, was absent from today’s morning skate. Head coach Jeff Blashill said his household is dealing with an illness and hopes he will be ready to play tonight. He’s enjoyed playing against the Jets recently, scoring four goals and 10 points in the last 13 games, including 3 multi-point efforts.

Welcome Home, Jonathan Toews

The media room was packed this morning. It’s not every day that Isaak Phillips returns to Chicago for the first time. All kidding aside, seeing Jonahtan Toews wear any other uniform besides a Blackhawks one on the United Center Ice will be a strange sight.

Toews’ legacy in Chicago speaks for itself. 1,067 games, 368 goals, 881 points, a Selke Trophy, a Conn Smythe Trophy, and three Stanley Cups. He is the greatest captain in the long storied history of the Blackhawks. He helped turn a long-forgotten organization into one that the rest of the league strived to be.

“I think it’ll be a pretty cool moment for me,” he told Tracy Myers of NHL.com. “Again, just being able to have a moment to kind of recognize what the game of hockey does for people in Chicago and what it meant for the city … you make a lot of sacrifices in your life and you kind of put a lot of things on the back burner, but the payoff is incredible to be able to be a part of championship teams that bring such an energy and inspiration to the city.

“I’m looking forward to going back there, playing that [game] and kind of reliving those moments.”

The building will be buzzing tonight, and full of No. 19 jerseys. Hopefully, the Blackhawks can feed off of that energy and turn it into two points.

Getting Back to Predictability

Blashill credited his team’s 5-1-1 stretch out of the holiday break to being predictable to each other. They have gone away from that style of hockey in recent games, and it’s led to the current three-game losing streak. I asked him what the key to regaining that predictability on the ice is.

“One of those things, I think, we haven’t scored a lot lately, and when you start pressing, usually you’re in trouble, and we’ve probably started pressing a little bit. What do I mean by that? Maybe trying to force plays that aren’t there, trying to find perfect plays when we just have to do a better job of making sure we’re taking what’s given.

“I think that starts on our breakouts, coming up through the neutral zone, having a hard middle drive, so if there’s no better play, we don’t stall it. We lay it behind so we can be first touch. Right now, to me, there are times we’ve probably stalled it a little bit through the neutral zone, trying to find a better play. The same thing would be in the O-zone. Take what’s given. So, I think our guys understand that. It’s not huge differences, it’s minor differences, but those minor differences ultimately are the difference in winning and losing.”

Getting to Connor Hellebuyck

Since scoring seven goals against the St. Louis Blues on Jan. 7, they have been held to only nine goals in their last five games. They scored only one goal in three of those outings. As Blashill eluded to, the team's struggles to score goals have led them to stray from what has made them successful in the past.

Trying to get their offense back on track against Connor Hellebuyck is not ideal. The reigning Hart and Vezina Trophy winner has been one of the best regular-season goaltenders in recent history. However, he has not played up to his high standards for much of the season. Blackhawks starter Spencer Knight actually has a better goals-against average (GAA) and save percentage (SV%) on the season.

Hellebuyck has not played badly this season; just not as good as we are used to seeing. He’s given up four or more goals in nine of his 29 games, including seven times in the last 11 games. To put that in perspective, he allowed four or more goals in only eight games all of last season. However, he’s been excellent against the Blackhawks during his career. In 29 starts, he’s gone 21-7-1 with a 2.27 GAA, .922 SV%, and two shutouts.

Season Series

10/30 @ WPG, L 6-3
1/19 vs WPG
3/3 @ WPG
3/31 vs WPG

Blackhawks Team Leaders

G-Tyler Bertuzzi (24)
A-Connor Bedard (28)
P-Bedard (47)
PPG-Bertuzzi (9)
GWG-Bedard/Bertuzzi (3)
SOG-Bedard (119)
PIM-Colton Dach (45)

Jets Team Leaders

G-Mark Scheifele/Kyle Connor (23)
A-Scheifele (35)
P-Scheifele (58)
PPG-Gabriel Vilardi (7)
GWG-4 tied with 2
SOG-Connor (155)
PIM-Logan Stanley (91)

Blackhawks Team Stats

GF/G-2.73 (26th)
GA/G-3.15 (21st)
PP%-22.1 (12th)
PK%-84.4 (2nd)
SOG/G-25.2 (30th)
SA/G-29.6 (27th)
FO%-47.2 (26th)
PIM/G-10:1 (24th)

Jets Team Stats

GF/G-3.04 (19th)
GA/G-3.13 (20th)
PP%-19.5 (21st)
PK%-78.6 (19th)
SOG/G-26.4 (24th)
SA/G-28.1 (16th)
FO%-50.8 (11th)
PIM/G-9:12 (22nd)

Blackhawks Probable Lines

Forwards
Ryan Greene-Connor Bedard-Andre Burakovsky
Tyler Bertuzzi-Jason Dickinson-Ilya Mikheyev
Ryan Donato-Oliver Moore-Nick Lardis
Nick Foligno-Colton Dach-Landon Slaggert

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

Scratched
F-Sam Lafferty

Injured

F-Frank Nazar (upper body), F-Teuvo Teravainen (upper body)

Jets Probable Lines

Forwards
Kyle Connor-Mark Scheifele-Alex Iafallo
Cole Perfetti-Jonathan Toews-Gabriel Vilardi
Nino Niederreiter-Adam Lowry-Vladislav Namestnikov
Cole Koepke-Morgan Barron-Tanner Pearson

Defensemen
Josh Morrissey-Dylan Demelo
Dylan Samberg-Elias Salomonsson
Logan Stanley-Luke Schenn

Scratched
F-Danny Zhilkin, F-Gustav Nyqvist, D-Isaak Phillips

Injured
D-Haydn Fleury (upper body), D-Colin Miller (knee), D-Neal Pionk (lower body)

Goaltending Matchup

Spencer Knight (13-13-6, 2.61 GAA, .910 SV%, 2 SO) vs Connor Hellebuyck (12-12-5, 2.76, .901 SV%, 0 SO)