Blackhawks Game Day Preview: Anders Sorensen era begins as Jets come calling

Chicago Blackhawks (8-16-2, 18 pts) vs Winnipeg Jets (19-8-0, 38 pts)
3 pm CT – United Center
TV: CHSN (Ball/Pang)
Radio: 720 AM (Wiedeman/Murray)

The Anders Sorensen era of Chicago Blackhawks hockey begins today with a tough task: the second-place Winnipeg Jets. The new bench boss wants the team to get the puck up the ice faster and generate more offense, especially for Connor Bedard. He tweaked the lineup a bit, putting Teuvo Teravainen and Philipp Kurashev back on the top line. Taylor Hall and Tyler Bertuzzi will remain together, with Ryan Donato in the middle.

Arvid Soderblom and the Blackhawks were less than a minute away from a 1-0 win over the Jets back on Oct. 11. Then Mark Scheiffele turned the tables by scoring in the last minute of regulation and again in overtime. The veteran center has six goals and nine points in his previous 11 games against the Blackhawks.

Hall has had quite a bit of success against the Jets, averaging a point per game in his career. In 22 games, he has eight goals and 22 points. Bedard has three goals in four career games versus Winnipeg. Today’s projected starting goaltender, Petr Mrazek, has faced the Jets 14 times in his career and has gone 7-5-1 with a .913 save percentage (SV%) and 2.60 goals-against average (GAA).

Season Series

10/11 1-2 (OT) @ WPG
12/7 vs WPG
4/12 vs WPG

Quotables

“We want to try to be patient with some of the guys, but there has to be accountability, too. If you’re not playing the way we want you to play or not putting the effort in, there are times you’ll have to change the lines because of that. The other thing is that we have some lines that are working, too, so we want to keep those guys and show that together. Sometimes, when you take a guy off a line who’s working to help somebody else out, that messes everybody up. We’re trying to build some continuity in that area, for sure, but we’ll see how it goes.”

Anders Sorensen

“Everyone needs to take ownership of this. The sad part is that one person takes the fall, but it’s all of us who need to be better in here. We’re excited to get to work with Anders. I think Luke would want us to forge ahead, too. He cares a lot about this group and organization. So, the best we can do is get moving ahead, and show we can be that team.

Captain Nick Foligno

“We were close in a lot of games, which is a step forward from last year/But at times, some of the reasons why we fell short in those games were habitual things that I think can be cleaned up through feedback and through some different instruction in practice between games. Some of the reasons games went sideways on us, I think, were likely fixable.”

General manager Kyle Davidson

Blackhawks Team Leaders

G-Ryan Donato (10)
A-Connor Bedard (14)
P-Connor Bedard (19)
PPG-Teuvo Teravainen (4)
SOG-Bedard (68)
PIM-Connor Murphy (32)

Jets Team Leaders

G-Kyle Connor (14)
A-Josh Morrissey (23)
P-Connor (30)
PPG-Connor (5)
SOG-Connor (90)
PIM-Logan Stanley (36)

Blackhawks Team Stats

GF/G-2.42 (31^st)
GA/G-3.15 (23^rd)
PP%-22.9 (12^th)
PK%-81.6 (8^th)
SOG/G-26.0 (30^th)
SA/G-30.5 (27^th)
FO%-44.2 (30^th)
PIM/G-7:43 (12th)

Jets Team Stats

GF/G-3.63 (5^th)
GA/G-2.56 (3^rd)
PP%-30.0 (2^nd)
PK%-80.3 (14^th)
SOG/G-29.1 (16^th)
SA/G-29.9 (26^th)
FO%-48.7 (24^th)
PIM/G-8:46 (17^th)

Blackhawks Probable Lines

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

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

Scratched:
F-Joey Anderson, D-Louis Crevier

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

Jets Probable Lines

Forwards
Kyle Connor-Mark Scheifele-Gabriel Vilardi
Vladislav Namestnikov-Brad Lambert-Cole Perfetti
Nino Niederreiter-Adam Lowry-Mason Appleton
Morgan Barron-Rasmus Kupari-Alex Iafallo

Defensemen
Josh Morrissey-Neal Pionk
Haydn Fleury-Dylan Demelo
Logan Stanley-Ville Heinola

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

Injured
F-Nikolai Ehlers (lower body), D-Dylan Samberg (fractured foot)

Goaltending Matchup

Petr Mrazek (7-11-1, .905 SV%, 2.86 GAA, 0 SO) vs Connor Hellebuyck (16-5-1, .927 SV%, 2.14 GAA, 3 SO)

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