Blackhawks Game Day Preview: Fullscale dress rehearsal against the Minnesota Wild

Chicago Blackhawks (0-3-1) vs Minnesota Wild (3-2-0)
7:30 pm CT – United Center
TV : CHSN (Ball/Pang)
Radio: 720 AM (Wiedeman/Murray)

The Chicago Blackhawks will play their penultimate preseason game and their last exhibition contest at the United Center tonight. They will host the Minnesota Wild, completing their home-and-home series. Both teams will be dressing lineups that will resemble what these teams will look like on opening night. Petr Mrazek is expected to play the entire game tonight. Matt Boldy is working his way back from injury, so he is the biggest name missing from the Wild’s lineup.

Defenseman Alec Martinez will not play tonight after missing the last two practices. Head coach Luke Richardson said that the veteran defenseman is dealing with anything serious and they are just focused on getting him ready for next week in Utah. Both defenseman Artyom Levshunov and goaltender Laurent Brossoit skated before morning skate.

Quotables

“Tonight’s a good test for us because that’s a good lineup. But we should be going into this game thinking it’s going to be a good test for them. We’ve got to have that confidence in our team.” Richardson

“He’s going to be a guy you can move anywhere, a utility guy. He’s engaging with all the players and coaches. He’s a good skater, a strong guy on the puck, and a strong forechecker. So, he automatically fits in with Nick Foligno and Jason Dickinson. We think he’s a guy we can move around and help in other areas at times. He’s one of those guys who will probably do that all year.” Richardson on Ilya Mikheyev

“He seems to be taking another step again. He seems really confident skating with the puck. He covers so much ice out there, and he’s more confident being vocal on the ice, which will help.” Richardson on Alex Vlasic

“He’s a dynamic player. He loves having the puck. He came into camp in great shape. I know management challenged him to do that over the summer. He wants to be the best player, so he needs to be in the best shape. And he did that. Now, it’s just repetitions. He had a good experience in his first year. I think he’s going to get stronger and know when he needs to hold onto the puck and when he needs to get it off his stick earlier. Those things are going to come in time.” Richardson on Connor Bedard

“It’s been good, for sure. We are still trying to get to know each other on the ice. We’ve only played one game together, so I’m looking forward to tonight and getting that chemistry going.” Teuvo Teravainen on playing with Bedard.

Blackhawks Preseason Leaders

G-Philipp Kurashev/Pat Maroon/Teuvo Teravainen/Craig Smith/Jason Dickinson/Connor Bedard (1)
A-Taylor Hall (2)
P-Hall/Kurashev/Bedard (2)
PPG-Maroon/Bedard (1)
SOG-Bedard (9)

Wild Preseason Leaders

G-Joel Eriksson Ek/Jakub Lauko/Kirill Kaprizov (3)
A-Mats Zuccarello (4)
P-Eriksson Ek/Kaprisov (6)
PPG-Kaprizov (3)
SOG- Declan Chisholm/Lauko (9)

Blackhawks Team Stats

GF/G-1.50
GA/G-4.00
PP%-16.7
PK%-69.2
SOG/G-23.3
SA/G-34.3
PIM-28

Wild Team Stats

GF/G-4.80
GA/G-4.00
PP%-53.8
PK%-81.0
SOG/G-29.0
SA/G-34.2
PIM-51

Blackhawks Probable Lines

Forwards
Teuvo Teravainen-Connor Bedard-Tyler Bertuzzi
Taylor Hall-Philipp Kurashev-Ilya Mikheyev
Nick Foligno-Jason Dickinson-Joey Anderson
Pat Maroon-Ryan Donato-Craig Smith

Defensemen
T.J. Brodie -Seth Jones
Alex Vlasic-Connor Murphy
Nolan-Allan-Isaak Phillips

Wild Probable Lines

Forwards
Kirill Kaprizov- Marco Rossi -Mats Zuccarello
Marcus Johansson-Joel Eriksson Ek-Liam Ohgren
Marcus Foligno-Ryan Hartman-Yakov Trenin
Jakub Lauko-Marat Khusnutdinov-Frederick Gaudreau

Defensemen
Jonas Brodin-Brock Faber
Declan Chisholm-Jared Spurgeon
John Merrill-Zach Bogosian

Goaltending Matchup

Petr Mrazek (Arvid Soderblom) vs Marc-Andre Fleury (Filip Gustavsson)

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