How the Blackhawks new line tweaks and other keys hope to come together against the LA Kings

The Chicago Blackhawks are 3-8. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

As they get set to face the Los Angeles Kings today (Oct. 27), head coach Jeff Blashill is tweaking with the lines again.

And it could work.

Here's why.

Splitting up Bedard and Kane adds more offense throughout lineup

Because there was no consistency in the lines at the start of the year, it might seem counterproductive to want to switch the lines yet again after they established some familiarity. But the fact of the matter is that their goals-for per game is 2.18. It is second-worst in the NHL behind the Philadelphia Flyers.

They can't start to get things back on track until they put the puck in the net, and that is where the changes come in.

When Connor Bedard came back from injury, he was paired with Patrick Kane and Roman Kantserov on the top line, and it made sense to try out their biggest scoring threats on the same line.

However, going into the Kings game, Bedard will be playing with Kantserov, and Ryan Greene will be moving from the fourth line to the top line. Greene played with Bedard on the top line for most of last season, and that was probably their best line.

According to Blashill, that is the point.

"Ultimately, I think we've been able to create chances. We haven't produced to the level that we need to produce, so we're hoping a little bit of the change adds to the same level of chances, but more production. It might not. Statistically, Bedsy's produced at a better rate with Greene on his line... is there chemistry there? So we'll see. Does it spark something? Ultimately, as I've said, I think there's been enough chances created to score more, but we do have to produce, and so sometimes you make a little change and you hope to spark it."

That will, in turn, move Kane down to a line with Oliver Moore and Frank Nazar.

Blashill said about what he was hoping to see from that grouping, "Well... lots of offense, you know, and not much up against. Those two (Nazar and Moore) have a lot of speed. Kaner pucks into really good areas. If you can get the pucks into the areas for those guys to exploit their speed, I think that can be a real positive. I think all three of them have a lot of skill. You know, [it] separates matchups a little bit, too. So, it makes the matchups probably... I don't want to say more difficult, but you got to be cognizant of where Kane is, where Bedard is. (They're) is just on different lines. So, we'll see how it goes."

Keeping Kane and Bedard together creates a true scoring threat on the ice, but for offensive depth purposes, splitting them up is probably the right call.

The thing about the Blackhawks is that they do have a lot of players who can play up and down the lineup, and that includes Kane. If he can end up being a great complement to Nazar and Moore, two players he has already played with at different points, that could be something.

Other keys to a victory against the Kings

With the Blackhawks facing the Kings, they only have two more points than the Blackhawks in the standings. They are also seventh-worst in goals-for per game (2.70). Although LA beat the New York Rangers 6-3 yesterday (Oct. 26),

Nevertheless, both teams are facing some hardships on offense; this would be a good opportunity for the Blackhawks to break through.

Especially on the power play. As was well documented in the Florida Panthers game on Oct. 25, Chicago's power play let them down, going 0-for-7. They are now ranked worst in the NHL on the man advantage (8.3 percent).

But, the Kings currently have the worst penalty kill in the league (63.3 percent success rate).

If there were any time for their offense to start clicking five-on-five and on the power play, the Kings would be a good test.

Another key is maintaining fast starts. In the Blackhawks' last two games, they scored the first goal within the first five minutes, but they haven't been able to hold on to the lead.

I asked Jordan Greenway at morning skate on Oct. 27 about the keys to maintaining the fast starts,

"I mean, sometimes you get up a goal, you know, you think it might be an easy night, and you get away from the structure and whatever we were doing to get that first lead. Outside of that, I mean, just not being settled. Not settle for getting the first goal and kind of letting them come back at you. You just got to keep the momentum going."

Overall, if the Blackhawks can find offensive depth again, as they did in their three wins this season, and if they start fast again and maintain it, they can break their three-game losing streak.

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