Blackhawks Game Day Preview: Petr Mrazek looks for some support versus Stars

Chicago Blackhawks (7-12-2, 16 pts) vs Dallas Stars (13-7-0, 26 pts)
7:30 pm CT – United Center
TV: CHSN (Ball/Pang)
Radio: 720 AM (Wiedeman/Murray)

The Chicago Blackhawks hope the third time is the charm against the Dallas Stars. They lost the first two meetings in Dallas, two winnable games in which they came up short. The Blackhawks have lost six of their last eight games since going 3-2-0 on a West Coast road trip. The Star will look to start fast tonight after allowing five third-period goals in a 6-4 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday.

Luke Richardson has once again changed up his lines. Only the fourth line remains from Saturday’s loss to the Philadelphia Flyers. Connor Bedard is back at center between Taylor Hall and Philipp Kurashev. These lines are the most balanced they’ve been in some time. There are two scoring lines, a defensive shutdown line and the fourth line, which has been the most consistent over the past few games. No matter what happens against the Stars, let’s hope Richardson gives this lineup multiple games to figure it out.

Bedard has a goal and an assist against the Stars this season. His last goal came in Dallas back on Oct. 26. Petr Mrazek will start in goal. He has had some tough luck in 17 career games against the Stars, going 4-8-2 with a .912 save percentage (SV%), 2.87 goals-against average (GAA), and two shutouts.

Related Article – Blackhawks should explore trading Arvid Söderblom

The Stars have earned victories in eight of the last 10 meetings between these two teams, including five out of the previous six games at the United Center. Since the start of the 2021-22 season, they are 11-2-0, outscoring the Blackhawks 53-30. No team has scored more goals against the Blackhawks in that span.

Season Series

10/26 2-4 @ DAL
11/7 1-3 @ DAL
11/27 vs DAL
12/29 vs DAL

Quotables        

“We’ve got to play with confidence. We’ve had the lead in the third period against really good hockey teams and we’ve lost a lot of games, and this is one of them again. We’ve got to be better. We’ve got to have confidence. We’ve got to play with structure. We’ve got to make it boring for them, get pucks in, grind them down low. We have moments of that, but we’ve got to do that for a full 60, and in the third period too, we can’t sit back. We’ve got to go.”

Pat Maroon

“He’s been our First Star all year. Our goaltending, in general, has been great, but Petr’s the leader there. He’s so competitive. He doesn’t just play the game, and focus on himself, and be quiet. He’s talking to the defense all the time, ironing things out, and pushing them along. If we can find a little bit of offense to help support the great goaltending, we can really make some strides.”

Richardson on Mrazek

Blackhawks Team Leaders

G-Ryan Donato (8)
A-Connor Bedard (12)
P-Connor Bedard (15)
PPG-Teuvo Teravainen (4)
SOG-Bedard (55)
PIM-Pat Maroon (28)

Stars Team Leaders

G-Matt Duchene (11)
A-Duchene (14)
P-Duchene (25)
PPG-Duchene/Tyler Seguin (2)
SOG-Logan Stankoven (60)
PIM-Jamie Benn (38)

Blackhawks Team Stats

GF/G-2.33 (31^st)
GA/G-3.00 (13^th)
PP%-20.8 (13^th)
PK%-78.7 (16^th)
SOG/G-26.0 (30^th)
SA/G-31.0 (27^th)
FO%-45.1 (29^th)
PIM/G-7:54 (13^h)

Stars Team Stats

GF/G-3.45 (7^th)
GA/G-2.50 (4^th)
PP%-16.1 (25^TH)
PK%-82.8 (9^th)
SOG/G-30.7 (6^th)
SA/G-27.1 (7^th)
FO%-50.6 (16^th)
PIM/G-7:57 (14^th)

Blackhawks Probable Lines

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

Defensemen
Alex Vlasic-Connor Murphy
Wyatt Kaiser-Alec Martinez
Nolan Allan-T.J. Brodie

Scratched:
F-Joey Anderson, D-Louis Crevier

Injured:
G-Laurent Brossoit (knee), D-Seth Jones (foot)

Stars Probable Lines

Forwards
Jason Robertson-Roope Hintz-Wyatt Johnston
Mason Marchment-Matt Duchene-Tyler Seguin
Jamie Benn-Mavrik Bourque-Logan Stankoven
Oskar Back-Sam Steel-Evgenii Dadonov

Defensemen
Miro Heiskanen-Esa Lindell
Thomas Harley-Ilya Lyubushkin
Brendan Smith-Matt Dumba

Scratched
F-Colin Blackwell

Injured
D-Nils Lundkvist (upper body)

Goaltending Matchup

Petr Mrazek (6-8-0, .911 SV%, 2.66 GAA, 0 SO) vs Jake Oettinger (11-4-0, .912 SV%, 2.43 GAA, 1 SO)

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