Blackhawks Game Day Preview: Lineup changes ahead of a rare chance for back-to-back wins

Chicago Blackhawks (2-2-1, 5 pts) vs Buffalo Sabres (1-4-1, 3 pts)
7 pm CT – United Center
TV: CHSN (Ball/Pang)
Radio: 720 AM (Wiedeman/Murray), 1200 AM LMN (Esparza/Moreno)

The Chicago Blackhawks are back in action tonight as they host the Buffalo Sabres. After beating the San Jose Sharks on Thursday, the Blackhawks will look to win back-to-back games for the first time this season. Last season, they only won consecutive games three times. The Sabres are struggling to start the season. They have just one win in six games and have been outscored 24-17. They are one of only two teams who haven’t scored a power-play goal this season, with the Anaheim Ducks being the other.

Since the start of the 2010-11 season, the Blackhawks have been 16-4-2 against the Sabres and have won 11 of the last 13 games played at the United Center. Nick Foligno, whose father and brother both played in Buffalo, has 13 goals and 25 points in 49 career games versus the Sabres. In his 17-year career, he has only scored more points against three other teams: the New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers, and Pittsburgh Penguins.

Head coach Luke Richardson will start Arvid Soderblom in goal tonight. This will be his third career start against the Sabres. In the previous two games, he is 0-1-1 with a .908 save percentage (SV%) and 3.49 goals-against average (GAA). Pat Maroon is still sore after a big blocked shot against the Sharks, so he will sit out tonight. Joey Anderson will also miss tonight’s game due to illness. Andreas Athanasiou and Ryan Donato will return to the lineup. There will be no changes to the defense.

Season Series

10/19 vs BUF
12/27 @ BUF

Quotables 

“I don’t think we’re necessarily the blazing speedsters up and down the ice, which seems to be the way the game goes. But they know how to play, and the pace of this game and they have the skill set and the hands and they’re a little bit stronger. People talk about it, like hockey strength and the man strength, and it does take a few years for guys to practice it every day against that type of strength, to get up to that pace and that speed. You’re not just seeing these guys do it, they’re practicing it. We do a lot of 5v5 stuff, game situations like today and that helps the young guys build their strength and their endurance within that strength through a whole shift and through a whole game.”

Richardson on what the veterans are bringing to the table.

“It’s amazing how when your faceoff percentage is better in a game, usually your win percentage is better. It’s something we’ve talked about; being grittier around the faceoff dot and winning more pucks.”

Folnigo on the need to improve at faceoffs.

“It’s a different Chicago team than we’ve seen the last couple of years. They brought in a lot of vets. They’re going to be a really good hockey team. It’s gonna be a really good challenge for us.”

Sabres  forward Alex Tuch on the Blackhawks.

Blackhawks Team Leaders

G-Teuvo Teravainen/Nick Foligno (3)
A-Connor Bedard (6)
P-Teravainen/Bedard (7)
PPG-Teravainen (2)
SOG-Bedard (17)
PIM-Pat Maroon (14)

Sabres Team Leaders

G-J.J. Peterka/Tage Thompson (3)
A-Alex Touch/Jason Zucker (4)
P-Toffoli (3)
PPG-N/A
SOG- Dylan Cozens (22)
PIM-Zucker (16)

Blackhawks Team Stats

GF/G-2.60 (24^th)
GA/G-2.80 (12^th)
PP%-31.3 (5^th)
PK%-83.3 (10^th)
SOG/G-26.2 (29^th)
SA/G-29.8 (20^th)
FO%-44.5 (31^st)
PIM/G-7:48 (21^st)

Sabres Team Stats

GF/G-2.83 (21^st)
GA/G-4.00 (26^th)
PP%-0.0 (31^st)
PK%-71.4 (26^th)
SOG/G-27.7 (21^st)
SA/G-29.3 (16^th)
FO%-48.7 (19th)
PIM/G-12:40 (5^th)

Blackhawks Probable Lines

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

Defensemen
Alex Vlasic-Seth Jones
Wyatt Kaiser -T.J. Brodie
Nolan Allan-Connor Murphy 

Scratched:
D-Isaak Phillips

Injured:
D-Alec Martinez (lower body), G-Laurent Brossoit (knee), D-Artyom Levshunov (foot), F-Pat Maroon (undisclosed), F-Joey Anderson (illness),

Sabres Probable Lines

Forwards
J.J. Peterka-Tage Thompson-Alex Tuch
Jiri Kulich-Dylan Cozens-Jack Quinn
Jason Zucker-Ryan McLeod-Jordan Greenway
Beck Malenstyn-Peyton Krebs-Sam Lafferty

Defensemen
Rasmus Dahlin-Henri Jokiharju
Bowen Byram-Owen Power
Mattias Samuelsson-Connor Clifton

Scratched
F-Zach Benson*, D-Jacob Bryson, D-Dennis Gilbert

*Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff did say there are multiple game-time decisions and that Benson will likely play.

Injured
F-Nicolas Aube-Kubel (Lower body)

Goaltending Matchup

Arvid Soderblom (0-0-1, .943 SV%, .1.98 GAA, 0 SO) vs Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (0-2-1, .874 SV%, 3.69 GAA, 0 SO)

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