It feels like an eternity (five days) since the Blackhawks last played a hockey game, but the day has finally arrived.
The Montreal Canadiens (4-3-2) are in town. This will be a good test for the Blackhawks. Montreal is a team that the Hawks’ hope are only a few years ahead of them. After all, the Canadiens did make it to the Eastern Conference Finals last season. They are also build similar to the Hawks, they beat you with speed and skill.
Last Saturday’s contest against the Dallas Stars was not a good one for the young Hawks. Their structure fell apart early on and they started to resemble how they looked early on in the season.
After five days off and three practices, there is no reason for Jeff Blashill’s squad to come out unprepared.
Bowen Byram is back on the ice
Ahead of the morning skate today, Bowen Byram hit the ice in a non-contact jersey. He was announced as “day-to-day” with an upper-body injury a week ago. He skated with Director of Skill Development Brian Keane. Byram worked on some light shooting and basic skating drills.
Byram will not play tonight, but seeing him back on the ice is a good sign.
Blackhawks projected lines
Kantserov – Bedard – Kane
Bertuzzi – Frondell – Teravainen
Moore – Nazar – Donato
Smith – Greene – Greenway
Vlasic – Cole
Kaiser – Levshunov
Del Mastro – Rinzel
Spencer Knight gets the start, it will be his fifth straight. Knight is 1-3-0 in his career against the Canadiens with an .890 save percentage and a 3.27 goals against average.
The Blackhawks held an optional skate this morning, so no changes are expected to be make to the lineup.
Shorthanded Canadiens
The Montreal Canadiens were hit heavy with injuries these past couple weeks. Most recently, captain Nick Suzuki is set to miss the next 2-4 weeks with an upper body injury, ending his 546-game iron man streak.
Star winger Ivan Demidov is also out with an upper-body injury and did not travel with the team to Chicago.
Mike Matheson is also out with a lower-body injury and is not expected to play tonight.
You never want to see players get injured, but the fact that the Canadiens are battered and beaten should be an advantage for the Hawks, who need every point they can get.
Kirby Dach vs Frank Nazar
It may not be as exciting as Artyom Levshunov vs Ivan Demidov, but it’s still something. When the Blackhawks traded Kirby Dach to the Canadiens in 2022, the pick the Hawks received was used to draft Frank Nazar.
in four games vs the Canadiens, Nazar has two goals and three assists for five points.
In five games, Kirby Dach has only one assist against the Blackhawks.
Canadiens projected lines
Caufield – Kapanen – Slafkovsky
Kreider – Newhook – Anderson
Bolduc – Danault – Texier
Dach – Evans – F. Xhekaj
Hutson – Dobson
Guhle – Carrier
A. Xhekaj – Engstrom
Jakob Dobes is likely to start. Dobes is 1-2-2 on the season so far with a 4.47 goals against average and a .847 save percentage. Not an ideal start for the young netminder.
What I’ll be watching for
- Play within the system: The Blackhawks just had five days off and three practices to work on execution issues. There is absolutely no reason they should look disconnected tonight. The Hawks are at their best when they are playing fast and hard within the structure of their system.
- Out-skill the Canadiens: I will repeat myself, the Canadiens are missing their 100-point captain and star winger. Combine that with five days off and home-ice advantage, the Blackhawks need to be the better team tonight. Although, the Canadiens will be hungry. They haven’t gotten off the a satisfactory start.