Blackhawks Gameday Preview: Blackhawks look to get lucky against Vegas Golden Knights

Chicago Blackhawks (14-28-3, 31 pts) vs Vegas Golden Knights (29-13-3, 61 pts)
7:00 p.m. CT – United Center
TV: CHSN (Ball/Pang)
Radio: WGN 720 AM (Wiedeman/Murray)

Tonight’s game could go one of two ways for the Chicago Blackhawks: it could either be a slaughter by the third-best team in the NHL against the last-place team in the NHL, like we all expect, or it could be a tight game between a team getting up for a game against a top opponent and a team coming off a loss on the road playing the last-place team the league on night two of back-to-back games.

Nothing in-between.

The Vegas Golden Knights come into Chicago for the first of three matchups this season between the clubs. Last night in Carolina, the Golden Knights fell 3-2 to the Hurricanes for their fourth loss in their last five games. They still rank near the top of the Western Conference, only behind the Winnipeg Jets, and are tied for second in the league with 61 points along with the Edmonton Oilers and behind the Jets and Washington Capitals at the top of the NHL.

Chicago have been bad historically against the Golden Knights in the franchise’s young lifetime. In 18 all-time matchups, the Blackhawks are 5-10-3 with just two of their five wins over Vegas coming in regulation. Over their last 12 games sine earning the team’s first three-game win streak in nearly over two calendar years, the Blackhawks hold a 2-9-1 record with a four-game losing streak.

The top-line for the Blackhawks’ forwards group provided some excitement and hope for the rest of the season in its first iteration on Thursday night in the shootout loss to the Nashville Predators. Tyler Bertuzzi, Connor Bedard, and Frank Nazar had a dominant performance with 5v5 advantages in shot attempts (11-9), shots on goal (9-3), and goals for (2-0) while on the ice together. Bedard scored his 13th goal of the season on Thursday night and has 21 points in 19 games since Anders Sorensen took over as interim head coach.

Season Series

1/18/25 vs VGK
2/27/25 at VGK
3/28/25 vs VGK

Blackhawks Team Leaders

G-Tyler Bertuzzi (14)
A-Connor Bedard (27)
P-Connor Bedard (40)
PPG-Tyler Bertuzzi (6)
SOG-Connor Bedard (107)
PIM-Pat Maroon (46)

Golden Knights Team Leaders

G-Pavel Dorofeyev (19)
A-Jack Eichel (44)
P-Jack Eichel (55)
PPG-Pavel Dorofeyev (8)
SOG-Jack Eichel (132)
PIM-Nicholas Roy (31)

Blackhawks Team Stats

GF/G-2.53 (30th)
GA/G-3.42 (29th)
PP%-23.2 (12th)
PK%-83.1 (4th)
SOG/G-25.1 (32nd)
SA/G-30.7 (28th)
FO%-44.6 (30th)
PIM/G-8:20 (15th)

Golden Knights Team Stats

GF/G-3.38 (5th)
GA/G-2.69 (6th)
PP%-26.4 (5th)
PK%-79.0 (17th)
SOG/G-30.7 (5th)
SA/G-27.1 (8th)
FO%-51.2 (12th)
PIM/G-5:22 (1st)

Blackhawks Probable Lines

Forwards
Tyler Bertuzzi-Connor Bedard-Frank Nazar
Teuvo Teräväinen-Jason Dickinson-Ilya Mikheyev
Colton Dach-Lukas Reichel-Nick Foligno
Taylor Hall-Ryan Donato-Pat Maroon

Defensemen
Alex Vlasic-Louis Crevier
Alec Martinez-Seth Jones
Wyatt Kasier-T.J Brodie

Scratched:
Philipp Kurashev, Nolan Allan

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

Golden Knights Probable Lines

Forwards
Ivan Barbashev-Jack Eichel-Mark Stone
Victor Olofsson-Tomas Hertl-Pavel Dorofeyev
Brett Howden-William Karlsson-Cole Schwindt
Tanner Pearson-Nicholas Roy-Keegan Kolesar

Defensemen
Noah Hanifin-Alex Pietrangelo
Brayden McNabb-Shea Theodore
Nicolas Hauge-Zach Whitecloud

Scratched
Alexander Holtz, Ben Hutton, Kaeden Korczak

Injured
N/A

Probable Goaltending Matchup

Petr Mrázek (8-16-1, .893 SV%, 3.25 GAA, 0 SO) vs Ilya Samsonov (11-5-1, .904 SV%, 2.70 GAA, 1 SO)