Blackhawks Game 67: Bedard Looks to Bounce Back in Hometown, Lines, Notes & How to Watch vs Canucks

Chicago Blackhawks (20-37-9, 49 pts) @ Vancouver Canucks (30-24-11, 71 pts)
9:00 pm – Rogers Arena
TV: CHSN (Ball/Granato)
Radio: WGN 720 AM (Wiedeman/Murray)

The Chicago Blackhawks wrap up their four-game road trip with their third and final meeting with the Vancouver Canucks tonight. They hope to avoid the season sweep after losing the first two games of the series. The Canucks are in the thick of the playoff race and should come out with some desperation. However, that’s been an issue for them this season and is a big reason why they are on the outside looking in when it comes to a Western Conference Wild Card spot.

Tonight is a good opportunity for Connor Bedard to have a bounce-back game and remind everyone why he was the first overall pick in 2023. When the Blackhawks visited Vancouver in November, it was Bedard’s first game in his hometown. He didn’t respond well to that pressure and had one of the worst games of his young career.

Thursday night was the first time Bedard went head-to-head with his friend and most recent No. 1 overall pick, Macklin Celebrini. Once again, he didn’t respond well to the pressure, as he had only one shot attempt and missed the second half of the third period after being hit with a 10-minute misconduct for “abuse of the officials.” He can get the bad taste of both performances out of his mouth with a huge game tonight.

Artyom Levshunov is now on the top defensive pair with Alex Vlasic. He will also remain on the top power-play unit. Louis Crevier will draw back into the lineup for the first time since March 8 against the Nashville Predators. Ethan Del Mastro will come out.

Season Series

10/22 3-6 vs VAN
11/16 1-4 @ VAN
3/15 @ VAN

Blackhawks Team Leaders

G-Ryan Donato (23)
A-Teuvo Teravainen (36)
P-Bedard (52)
PPG-Bertuzzi (8)
GWG-Bedard (5)
SOG-Bedard (157)
PIM-Pat Maroon (76)

Canucks Team Leaders

G-Jake DeBrusk (23)
A-Quinn Hughes (47)
P-Hughes (61)
PPG-DeBrusk (11)
GWG-Kiefer Sherwood (4)
SOG-Hughes (144)
PIM-Tyler Myers (70)

Blackhawks Team Stats

GF/G-2.71 (26^th)
GA/G-3.47 (29^th)
PP%-24.8 (7^th)
PK%-80.9 (12^th)
SOG/G-24.5 (32^nd)
SA/G-31.8 (31^st)
FO%-44.7 (31^st)
PIM/G-8:39 (21^st)

Canucks Team Stats

GF/G-2.71 (27^th)
GA/G-3.03 (19^th)
PP%-22.5 (16^th)
PK%-82.1 (7^th)
SOG/G-25.6 (31^st)
SA/G-26.8 (8^th)
FO%-49.7 (17^th)
PIM/G-9:25 (26^th)

Blackhawks Probable Lines

Forwards
Colton Dach-Connor Bedard-Frank Nazar
Teuvo Teravainen-Ryan Donato-Ilya Mikheyev
Landon Slaggert-Jason Dickinson-Nick Foligno
Lukas Reichel-Joe Veleno-Tyler Bertuzzi

Defensemen
Alex Vlasic-Artyom Levshunov
Wyatt Kaiser-Connor Murphy
Alec Martinez-Louis Crevier

Scratched
D-T.J. Brodie, F-Philipp Kurashev, D-Ethan Del Mastro, F-Pat Maroon

Injured
G-Laurent Brossoit (knee)

Canucks Probable Lines

Forwards
Nils Hoglander-Elias Pettersson-Jake DeBrusk
Dakota Joshua-Pius Suter-Conor Garland
Drew O’Connor-Filip Chytl-Brock Boeser
Nils Aman-Teddy Blueger-Kiefer Sherwood

Defensemen
Quinn Hughes-Filip Hronek
Marcus Pettersson-Tyler Myers
Derek Forbort-Victor Mancini

Scratched
F-Jonathna Lekkerimaki, D-Elias Pettersson

Injured
G-Thatcher Demko (lower body), D-Noah Juulsen (lower body)

Goaltending Matchup

Arvid Soderblom (8-15-7, .905 SV%, 3.05 GAA, 0 SO) vs Arturs Silovs (1-6-1, .879 SV%, 3.20 GAA, 0 SO)