Blackhawks Game Day Preview: Connor Bedard looks to extend point streak vs Stars

Chicago Blackhawks (5-8-1, 11 pts) @ Dallas Stars (7-4-0, 14 pts)
7:00 pm CT – American Airlines Center
TV: CHSN (Ball/Pang)
Radio: 720 AM (Wiedeman/Murray)

The Chicago Blackhawks are back in Texas to take on the Dallas Stars for the second time in 12 days. The last time they were there, the Stars were ready to head to Finland to take on the Florida Panthers in the Global Series. Tonight will be their first game back after losing both games to the reigning Stanley Cup Champions. The crazy thing is, if the Blackhawks could have completed their third-period comeback on Oct. 26, they’d be ahead of the Stars in the standings.

The Blackhawks have lost 12 of their past 15 contests against the Stars and five of their last six trips to the American Airlines Center. Connor Bedard has a three-game point streak against Dallas, including goals in back-to-back games. Arvid Soderblom is expected to make his fourth start of the season tonight. He’s faced the Stars once in his career, relieving Petr Mrazek on New Year’s Eve last year. He allowed two goals on 10 shots.

Of course, the Stars have a slew of players on heaters, given their recent success against the Blackhawks. Captain Jamie Benn has six goals and 17 points in his last 18 games against Chicago. Defenseman Miro Heiskanen has been an assist machine against the Blackhawks. In his previous 14 games, he has 13 helpers and a pair of goals.

Season Series

10/26 2-4 @ DAL
11/7 @ DAL
11/27 vs DAL
12/29 vs DAL

Quotables 

“One of the tools we have is to shuffle the deck if it’s not working. Through 11 games, we’ve gotten consistent games from the Duchene line. That’s the one line for me that there is no sense in messing with something that is going well. As far as the other lines go, I haven’t got that yet; I’m looking for that.”

Stars head coach Pete DeBoer on his coaching strategy.

“It’s performance-wise for us – just playing better. It’s one thing that you don’t know how to put your finger on it, or it would be there already. Everybody wants to and feels prideful about being here with our fans rooting us on. That’s why the frustration is so high.”

Defenseman Connor Murphy

“There are timely plays that we need to learn as a team. When to be more aggressive and when not to be. There were a couple of instances that cost us goals. I know the veterans talk about a lot of the good things, but we have to take more steps forward. We have to still work on our game and find our game. We have to rely on our veteran presence to help that.”

Head coach Luke Richardson

Blackhawks Team Leaders

G-Ryan Donato (7)
A-Connor Bedard (9)
P-Connor Bedard (12)
PPG-Teuvo Teravainen (3)
SOG-Bedard (49)
PIM-Pat Maroon (26)

Stars Team Leaders

G-Matt Duchene (7)
A-Logan Stankoven (9)
P-Duchene (15)
PPG-Duchene (2)
SOG-Jason Robertson (30)
PIM-Mason Marchment (19)

Blackhawks Team Stats

GF/G-2.64 (25^th)
GA/G-3.21 (19^th)
PP%-21.4 (12^th)
PK%-76.2 (20^th)
SOG/G-27.8 (22^nd)
SA/G-30.4 (23^rd)
FO%-46.4 (27^th)
PIM/G-9:08 (17^th)

Stars Team Stats

GF/G-3.09 (16^th)
GA/G-2.45 (3^rd)
PP%-19.4 (16^th)
PK%-88.6 (4^th)
SOG/G-28.1 (20^th)
SA/G-28.0 (8^th)
FO%-48.3 (24^th)
PIM/G-7:21 (6^th)

Blackhawks Probable Lines

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

Defensemen
Wyatt Kaiser-Seth Jones
Alex Vlasic-Connor Murphy
Nolan Allan-Isaak Phillips

Scratched:
F- Andreas Athanasiou, F-Joey Anderson, D-T.J. Brodie

Injured:
D-Alec Martinez (groin), G-Laurent Brossoit (knee)

Stars Probable Lines

Forwards
Jason Robertson-Roope Hintz-Evgenii Dadonov
Jamie Benn-Wyatt Johnston-Logan Stankoven
Sam Steel-Matt Duchene-Tyler Seguin
Oskar Back-Mavrik Bourque-Colin Blackwell

Defensemen
Miro Heiskanen-Mathew Dumba
Thomas Harley-Ilya Lyubushkin
Esa Lindell-Nils Lundkvist

Scratched
D-Brendan Smith

Injured
F-Mason Marchment (undisclosed)

Goaltending Matchup

Arvid Soderblom (1-1-1, .927 SV%, 2.35 GAA, 0 SO) vs Jake Oettinger (5-2-0, .917 SV%, 2.44 GAA, 1 SO)

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