Blackhawks Game Day Preview: Catching the Rangers at the right time

Chicago Blackhawks (8-17-2, 18 pts) @ New York Rangers (14-11-1, 29 pts)
6 pm CT – Madison Square Garden
TV: CHSN (Ball/Pang)
Radio: 720 AM (Wiedeman/Murray)

There is an old adage about it’s not who you play but rather when you play them. The Chicago Blackhawks are catching the New York Rangers at the right time. It wasn’t long ago when they were 12-4-1 and looked like legit Stanley Cup contenders. Since then, they have gone 2-7-0, leaked rumors about trading captain Jacob Trouba and veteran leader Chris Kreider, traded Trouba, and signed goaltender Igor Shesterkin to a huge contract. The Blue Shirts’ first game without their former captain was a disaster, losing 7-5 to the Seattle Kraken at home on Sunday. Shesterkin will be back in goal tonight after he and his wife welcomed their new daughter over the weekend.

Tonight will be interim head coach Anders Sorensen’s second game behind the Blackhawks bench. He did not hold a morning skate, but it looks like Ilya Mikheyev will play on the top line with Connor Bedard and Phillip Kurashev. Mikheyev started the season on the top line but only lasted one game. He has the speed to skate with Bedard and will win some board battles, so this isn’t the worst idea.

However, Elliotte Friedman said on 32 Thoughts that Frank Nazar’s recall is coming soon, maybe as quickly as this afternoon. Even if that does happen, I can’t see him playing tonight. It’s also unlikely that Kevin Korchinski will play against the Rangers after being recalled on Sunday. Alec Martinez is day-to-day with a neck injury. Goaltender Petr Mrazek was placed on injured reserve with a groin injury, but Sorensen said he will only miss one to two weeks. In positive injury news, defenseman Seth Jones skated on his own yesterday, so his return is nearing.

Season Series

12/9 @NYR
1/5 vs NYR

Quotables

“I heard it’s coming. I heard he’s going to get his chance. I think they’re worried about too much being expected too soon, but I think he gets his chance. They put Joey Anderson on waivers on Sunday. We’ll see if it’s as soon as Anderson clears, but I hear Nazar’s coming.”

Elliotte Friedman on 32 Thoughts.

“He’s been really good. I thought he did a really good job yesterday transporting the puck into the zone and being patient, and he made a nice play on the goal. Even the game before vs. Boston, he did some of that.”

Anders Sorensen on Ilya Mikheyev

“We’ve got to come out of our zone cleaner. I think our retrievals, we’ve got to be cleaner and be on the same page. We had a good meeting this morning about it and set some road maps for them to work [on], so everybody knows where we’re going.”

Sorensen

Blackhawks Team Leaders

G-Ryan Donato (10)
A-Connor Bedard (15)
P-Connor Bedard (20)
PPG-Teuvo Teravainen (4)
SOG-Bedard (68)
PIM-Connor Murphy (32)

Rangers Team Leaders

G-Artemi Panarin (15)
A-Adam Fox (22)
P-Panarin (34)
PPG-Panarin (5)
SOG-Panarin (84)
PIM-Sam Carrick

Blackhawks Team Stats

GF/G-2.41 (31^st)
GA/G-3.19 (24^th)
PP%-23.9 (10^th)
PK%-82.1 (8^th)
SOG/G-25.6 (30^th)
SA/G-30.4 (27^th)
FO%-44.2 (30^th)
PIM/G-7:35 (12th)

Rangers Team Stats

GF/G-3.27 (10^th)
GA/G-3.04 (17^th)
PP%-23.2 (11^th)
PK%-85.5 (2^nd)
SOG/G-30.5 (6^th)
SA/G-31.9 (29^th)
FO%-54.1 (3^rd)
PIM/G-8:43 (17^th)

Blackhawks Probable Lines

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

Defensemen
Alex Vlasic-Connor Murphy
Wyatt Kaiser-T.J. Brodie
Nolan Allan-Louis Crevier

Scratched:
D-Kevin Korchinski

Injured:
G-Laurent Brossoit (knee), D-Seth Jones (foot), G-Petr Mrazek (groin), Alec Martinez (neck)

Rangers Probable Lines

Forwards
Artemi Panarin-Vincent Trocheck-Alexis Lafreniere
Chris Kreider-Mika Zibanejad-Reilly Smith
Will Cuylle-Filip Chytil-Kaapo Kakko
Adam Edstrom-Sam Carrick-Jimmy Vesey

Defensemen
Ryan Lindgren-Adam Fox
K’Andre Miller-Braden Schneider
Zac Jones-Victor Mancini

Scratched
F-David Gustafsson, D-Dylan Coghlan, D-Colin Miller

Injured
LW-Brett Berard (upper body), D-Urho Vaakanainen (upper body), F-Riley Nash (lower body)

Goaltending Matchup

Arvid Soderblom (1-6-1, .915 SV%, 2.60 GAA, 0 SO) vs Igor Shesterkin (9-9-1, .908 SV%, 2.99 GAA, 1 SO)

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