Chicago Blackhawks (16-30-5, 37 pts) at Florida Panthers (30-19-3, 63 pts)
12:00 p.m. CT – Amerant Bank Arena
TV: ABC/ESPN+ (Wischusen/Callahan/Hextall)
Radio: WGN 720 AM (Wiedeman/Murray)

Earlier this week the Chicago Blackhawks found themselves leaving the state of Florida victorious after a 4-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning. Come Saturday afternoon, they hope to be doing the same when they get on the charter plane after their contest with the Florida Panthers to conclude their two-game season series.

It was Chicago coming away with a win in the first meeting between these teams back in late-November, when Luke Richardson was still the head coach. That version of the Blackhawks also predated the arrivals of players like Frank Nazar, Colton Dach, and Landon Slaggert to the roster, so it will feel much different on Saturday afternoon than it did back in November. But hopefully with the same result: a win.

With no morning skate, Friday’s practice gave way to a look at the lineup ahead of this afternoon’s game and it would appear that defenseman Connor Murphy is healthy and back in the lineup. Murphy had been skating in recent days with the Blackhawks again and went on the road trip with the team starting earlier this week. The veteran defenseman has been out since the Winter Classic on December 31 with a groin injury, the same that kept him out of action for nearly half of last season. In 38 games this season, Murphy has one goal and 13 points and is averaging 20:33 minutes per game.

Murphy comes into the lineup, as does Pat Maroon, at the expense of players who are younger than them. Nolan Allan exits the lineup and takes a seat in the press box next to Ethan Del Mastro and Philipp Kurashev joins them with Maroon back in the forward group. Again, much to the chagrin of the Blackhawks fan base, we still have yet to see the lineup that could be halfway made of players who are 23-years-old or younger. Now with Murphy back in the fold, it may be further from reach as it could lead to one of Allan or Del Mastro heading back to the Rockford IceHogs for the time being.

Connor Bedard’s 15th goal of the year on Thursday night extended his current point streak to four games with a point in each of them (2G, 2A). He has registered at least one point in 16 of his last 18 games and has 30 points in his last 30 games played. Bedard is tied for second on the team with 15 goals this season, alongside Ryan Donato, and trails linemate Tyler Bertuzzi by two for the team-lead.

Seth Jones assisted on Bedard’s third period goal on Thursday night, which also extended his current point streak to seven games with two goals and ten points in that span of time. Jones has 11 points in his last 12 games since the Winter Classic, which ranks seventh among NHL defensemen for the month of January.

Season Series

11/21/24 vs FLA – 3-1 W
2/1/24 at FLA

Blackhawks Team Leaders

G-Tyler Bertuzzi (17)
A-Connor Bedard (30)
P-Connor Bedard (45)
PPG-Tyler Bertuzzi (8)
SOG-Connor Bedard (120)
PIM-Pat Maroon (71)

Panthers Team Leaders

G-Sam Reinhart (29)
A-Matthew Tkachuk (31)
P-Sam Reinhart (54)
PPG-Sam Reinhart, Mathe Tkachuk (9)
SOG-Sam Bennett (157)
PIM-A.J. Greer (78)

Blackhawks Team Stats

GF/G-2.61 (31st)
GA/G-3.39 (29th)
PP%-23.8 (9th)
PK%-81.5 (11th)
SOG/G-24.6 (32nd)
SA/G-31.3 (30th)
FO%-45.1 (30th)
PIM/G-8:36 (20th)

Panthers Team Stats

GF/G-3.19 (9th)
GA/G-2.92 (15th)
PP%-24.2 (8th)
PK%-79.4 (15th)
SOG/G-31.3 (3rd)
SA/G-27.3 (10th)
FO%-49.5 (22nd)
PIM/G-9:58 (28th)

Blackhawks Probable Lines

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

Defensemen
Alex Vlasic-Louis Crevier
Alec Martinez-Seth Jones
T.J Brodie-Connor Murphy

Scratched:
Nolan Allan, Ethan Del Mastro, Philipp Kurashev

Injured:
Laurent Brossoit (IR), Craig Smith (DTD)

Panthers Probable Lines

Forwards
Carter Verhaeghe-Aleksander Barkov-Sam Reinhart
Matthe Tkachuk-Sam Bennett-Mackie Samoskevich
Eetu Luostarinen-Anton Lundell-Evan Rodrigues
A.J. Greer-Tomas Nosek-Jesper Boqvist

Defensemen
Gustav Forsling-Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola-Dmitry Kulikov
Uvis Balinskis-Nate Schmidt

Scratched
N/A

Injured
Jonah Gadjovich (OUT)

Probable Goaltending Matchup

Petr Mrázek (9-17-2, .895 SV%, 3.26 GAA, 0 SO) vs Sergei Bobrovsky (21-11-2, .901 SV%, 2.89 GAA, 2 SO)