Connor Bedard, Blackhawks want to continue to scorch Flames

Chicago Blackhawks (19-20-7, 45 pts) vs Calgary Flames (19-23-4, 42 pts)
7:30 pm CT – United Center
TV: CHSN (Ball/Pang)
Radio: WGN 720 AM (Wiedeman/Konroyd)

The Chicago Blackhawks will wrap up their three-game season series with the Calgary Flames tonight at the United Center. They can pull off the sweep with a victory tonight. Despite losing two of their last three outings, a win against the Flames would be their seventh in the last 11 games.

While a pesky stomach bug has caused numerous players to miss time over the past three games, including Connor Bedard, Louis Crevier, Ilya Mikhyev, and both goaltenders, a key forward will be out tonight for a different reason. Teuvo Teravainen will be out of action with an upper-body injury suffered during the first period of Monday’s loss to the Edmonton Oilers.

Tonight is the last stop on the Flames’ current five-game road trip. They are 1-3-0 in the first four games, with the only win coming against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday. They will be without leading goal scorer Blake Coleman, who was placed on injured reserve after suffering an upper-body injury during the first game of the trip against the Boston Bruins.

“The chances have been somewhat even, and we’ve been able to come out on top,” head coach Jeff Blashill said of the first two games against the Flames. “So, I don’t know if there’s one thing stylistically that I could put my finger on, except we were able to capitalize on our opportunities a little bit more. To win tonight, we’re going to have to play really good hockey and do that again.”

Connor Bedard Has Dominated Flames

One of the biggest reasons the Blackhawks are going for the season sweep tonight has been Bedard's play in the first two meetings. He factored into all the scoring on Nov. 7 with a goal and three assists in the 4-1 win. In the rematch 11 days later, he scored his second hat trick of the season to lead the Blackhawks to a 5-2 victory.

We saw with his two helpers against the Nashville Predators on Saturday that Bedard has his game legs back under him. Hopefully, his recent bout with that stomach bug won’t affect him tonight. He’s averaging two points a game against the Flames in his career, with six goals and 12 points in six games. He has yet to find the back of the net against tonight’s starter, Devin Cooley, as he has no goals on five shots in their previous two meetings.  

Ryan Donato Gets to Run with the Kids

With Teravainen out of action tonight, Ryan Donato will take his spot on the line with rookies Nick Lardis and Oliver Moore. The young duo has built good chemistry together, which started at the beginning of the season with the Rockford IceHogs. Blashill feels that Donato is the ideal player to replace Teravainen on that line.

“Ryan can shoot the puck in the net,” Blashill said. “He’s a guy who can one-shot shoot it in the net. I think they’ve had some opportunities offensively that if they get the puck to Ryan, I think he’s a guy who can score on that line. But I also think he brings a little bit of it; it’s two young guys playing with a guy who’s got some veteran leadership to him, and he can take on that role. Turbo’s been with them a lot, Turbo’s out right now, and he can kind of fill a similar role. They’re not the same player, but they have similar experience levels.”

Possible Fireworks

These two teams have built up some animosity over their first two games. Since this is the last meeting of the season, it is the last chance to settle any scores. The first meeting in Calgary saw Joel Farabee cross-check Frank Nazar in the leg, which caused him to miss the next two games. Later in the evening, Nick Foligno took a run at young defenseman Zayne Parekh, and he hasn’t played since due to an upper-body injury.

Neither team forgot about those plays when they met at the United Center less than two weeks later. The two teams combined for 122 penalty minutes, including all 10 skaters getting 10-minute misconducts for a big altercation after time expired. It will be interesting to see how physical tonight gets or if cooler heads will prevail.

Season Series

11/7 @ CGY, W 4-0
11/18 vs CGY, W 5-2
1/15 vs CGY

Blackhawks Team Leaders

G-Tyler Bertuzzi (24)
A-Connor Bedard (27)
P-Bedard (46)
PPG-Bertuzzi (9)
GWG-Bedard/Bertuzzi (3)
SOG-Bedard (110)
PIM-Colton Dach (45)

Flames Team Leaders

G-Blake Coleman (13)
A-Nazem Kadri (24)
P-Kadri (32)
PPG-Matt Coronato (5)
GWG-Coleman/Coronato (3)
SOG-Kadri (134)
PIM-Adam Klapka (74)

Blackhawks Team Stats

GF/G-2.78 (24th)
GA/G-3.11 (19th)
PP%-22.9 (7th)
PK%-85.2 (2nd)
SOG/G-25.3 (30th)
SA/G-29.9 (29th)
FO%-47.1 (28th)
PIM/G-10:13 (24th)

Flames Team Stats

GF/G-2.54 (31st)
GA/G-3.00 (14th)
PP%-15.4 (30th)
PK%-82.0 (9th)
SOG/G-29.4 (7th)
SA/G-29.2 (23rd)
FO%-49.5 (20th)
PIM/G-12:52 (30th)

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)

Flames Probable Lines

Forwards
Jonathan Huberdeau-Nazem Kadri-Joel Farabee
Yegor Sharangovich-Mikael Backlund-Matt Coronato
Connor Zary-Morgan Frost-Adam Klapka
Ryan Lomberg-Justin Kirkland-William Stromgren

Defensemen
Kevin Bahl-Rasmus Andersson
Yan Kuznetsov-MacKenzie Weegar
Joel Hanley-Brayden Pachal

Scratched
F-Dryden Hunt, D-Hunter Brzustewicz,

Injured
D-Jake Bean (undisclosed), F-John Beecher (upper body), F-Blake Coleman (upper body), F-Samuel Honzek (upper body), D-Henry Mews (knee), D-Zayne Parekh (upper body), F-Martin Pospisil (undisclosed)

Goaltending Matchup

Spencer Knight (13-12-6, 2.63 GAA, .910 SV%, 2 SO) vs Devin Cooley (5-4-2, 2.29 GAA, .918 SV%, 0 SO)