Blackhawks Gameday Preview: Blackhawks face Hurricanes after Rantanen and Hall trade

Chicago Blackhawks (16-29-5, 37 pts) at Carolina Hurricanes (31-16-4, 66 pts)
6:00 p.m. CT – Lenovo Center
TV: CHSN (Ball/Pang)
Radio: WGN 720 AM (Wiedeman/Murray)

The grudge match everyone has been waiting for: Taylor Hall vs. the Chicago Blackhawks.

Well it might not be the most headline-grabbing event of a player facing his former team, but from what Taylor Hall has said over the past few days since being traded from Chicago, there is no doubt going to be some extra juice in his game to “prove” to the Blackhawks that he had more to give than what he was able to show this season.

“My playing time in Chicago, for whatever reason, was not where I would have liked it to be,” Hall said on Thursday morning after Hurricanes morning skate. “I was happy to be traded, and I was happy to come to a really good team.” Hall averaged 14:59 minutes per game with the Blackhawks this season, bouncing around the lineup from the top line to the fourth line, and put up nine goals and 24 points in 46 games. In his second game with the Hurricanes, he recorded an assist in 18:18 minutes of action.

“They’re on a different timeline than my career is right now, so I get it.” Hall added on Thursday morning.

He’s right.

Thursday night’s lineup for the Blackhawks will again feature eight players aged 23 or younger, with the still elusive half-kids lineup (9 skaters) still to be seen as Nolan Allan and Colton Dach draw back into the lineup, with Pat Maroon and Ethan Del Mastro coming out. T.J. Brodie, who had a very effective game on Tuesday night, remains in the lineup whereas if he were to be swapped with Del Mastro, then we would have the nine 23 or younger players.

Alas.

Arvid Söderblom gets back-to-back starts for the Blackhawks after getting the 34-save win on Tuesday night against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Söderblom is 1-0-2 in his last three starts with a .939 save-percentage over that span of time.

Seth Jones enters tonight’s game on a six-game point streak where he has racked up two goals and nine points over those games. He leads all NHL defensemen in assists and points since January 13.

Connor Bedard has 25 points in his last 24 games since interim head coach Anders Sorensen took over, ranking 29th in the NHL since December 7. He has only been held off the scoresheet in five of those 24 games, with three three-game point-streaks and a nine-game point streak occurring during that time.

Season Series

1/20/25 vs CAR – 4-3 OTL
1/30/25 at CAR

Blackhawks Team Leaders

G-Tyler Bertuzzi (17)
A-Connor Bedard (30)
P-Connor Bedard (44)
PPG-Tyler Bertuzzi (8)
SOG-Connor Bedard (118)
PIM-Pat Maroon (71)

Hurricanes Team Leaders

G-Mikko Rantanen (25)
A-Mikko Rantanen (40)
P-Mikko Rantanen (65)
PPG-Andrei Svechnikov (9)
SOG-Mikko Rantanen (143)
PIM-Andrei Svechnikov (38)

Blackhawks Team Stats

GF/G-2.62 (31st)
GA/G-3.40 (30th)
PP%-24.2 (9th)
PK%-81.3 (11th)
SOG/G-24.7 (32nd)
SA/G-31.4 (30th)
FO%-45.0 (30th)
PIM/G-8:42 (20th)

Hurricanes Team Stats

GF/G-3.35 (5th)
GA/G-2.71 (8th)
PP%-20.8 (18th)
PK%-86.0 (1st)
SOG/G-31.9 (1st)
SA/G-25.0 (1st)
FO%-52.5 (4th)
PIM/G-6:58 (7th)

Blackhawks Probable Lines

Forwards
Frank Nazar-Connor Bedard-Tyler Bertuzzi
Teuvo Teräväinen-Jason Dickinson-Ilya Mikheyev
Landson Slaggert-Lukas Reichel-Nick Foligno
Colton Dach-Ryan Donato-Philipp Kurashev

Defensemen
Alex Vlasic-Louis Crevier
Alec Martinez-Seth Jones
Nolan Allan-T.J Brodie

Scratched:
Pat Maroon, Ethan Del Mastro

Injured:
Laurent Brossoit (IR), Connor Murphy (OUT), Craig Smith (DTD)

Hurricanes Probable Lines

Forwards
Mikko Rantanen-Sebastian Aho*-Jackson Blake
Andrei Svechnikov-Jesperi Kotkaniemi-Taylor Hall
Jordan Martinook-Jordan Staal-Seth Jarvis
Juha Jaaska-Jack Roslovic-Eric Robinson
*Aho is a game-time decision

Defensemen
Jaccob Slavin-Brent Burns
Dmitry Orlov-Jalen Chatfield
Shayne Gostisbehere-Sean Walker

Scratched
Riley Stillman

Injured
Jesper Fast (IR), William Carrier (OUT), Tyson Jost (OUT)

Probable Goaltending Matchup

Arvid Söderblom (7-11-3, .910 SV%, 2.88 GAA, 0 SO) vs Pyotr Kochetkov (18-9-3, .903 SV%, 2.48 GAA, 1 SO)