Blackhawks Game 77: Third Line Looks to Continue Success, Lines, Notes & How to Watch vs Penguins

Chicago Blackhawks (21-45-10, 52 pts) vs Pittsburgh Penguins (30-34-12, 72 pts)
5 pm CT – United Center
TV: CHSN (Ball/Chelios)
Radio: WGN 720 AM (Wiedeman/Murray)/LMN (Esparza/Moreno)

The Chicago Blackhawks get their first look at the Pittsburgh Penguins this evening. It’s a crazy schedule where these two teams don’t see each other for the first six months of the season, then play twice in three days. After facing one all-time great in Alex Ovechkin on Friday, the Blackhawks now have to try to stop the ageless wonder Sidney Crosby in back-to-back games. The future Hall of Famer had a hat trick in the Penguins’ 5-3 win over the Dallas Stars yesterday.

The Penguins are what some fans wanted the Blackhawks to be. They held onto the heroes of their championship past, like Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang. They went out and acquired defenseman Erik Karlsson despite everyone in the hockey world knowing it wouldn’t end well for the Penguins. This will be the third consecutive season without the Penguins in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and they haven’t advanced past the first round since 2018.

Meanwhile, the Blackhawks made the difficult decision to say goodbye to franchise icons Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews and rebuild from scratch. Although the last three seasons have been challenging to watch, as we’ve seen over the past few games, things are going to improve. Which franchise’s future would you rather have right now?

The Blackhawks will make one change to their lineup from Friday night. Lukas Reichel will return to the lineup after being held out against the Capitals due to missing a team meeting. He revealed yesterday that his phone had died overnight, and his alarm had never gone off. Pat Maroon will be the healthy scratch, as Philipp Kurashev stays on the third line. That trio was the best line in Washington, with Kurashev finding the back of the net. Spencer Knight will make his third straight start and sixth in the last seven games.

Season Series

4/6 vs PIT
4/8 @ PIT

Blackhawks Team Leaders

G-Ryan Donato (29)
A-Teuvo Teravainen (41)
P-Donato/Connor Bedard (59)
PPG-Bedard/Tyler Bertuzzi (9)
GWG-Bedard (5)
SOG-Bedard (180)
PIM-Pat Maroon (97)

Penguins Team Leaders

G-Rickard Rakell (33)
A-Sidney Crosby (56)
P-Crosby (86)
PPG-Crosby (10)
GWG-Crosby (7)
SOG-Crosby (211)
PIM-Kris Letang (48)

Blackhawks Team Stats

GF/G-2.70 (26^th)
GA/G-3.61 (31^st)
PP%-24.4 (10^th)
PK%-80.4 (12^th)
SOG/G-24.4 (32^nd)
SA/G-31.1 (30^th)
FO%-45.0 (31^st)
PIM/G-8:45 (22^nd)

Penguins Team Stats

GF/G-2.94 (19^th)
GA/G-3.58 (30^th)
PP%-24.8 (9^th)
PK%-77.6 (21^st)
SOG/G-28.3 (14^th)
SA/G-30.3 (29^th)
FO%-52.8 (8^th)
PIM/G-6:58 (6^th)

Blackhawks Probable Lines

Forwards
Ryan Donato-Connor Bedard-Ilya Mikheyev
Teuvo Teravainen-Frank Nazar-Tyler Bertuzzi
Landon Slaggert-Oliver Moore-Philipp Kurashev
Lukas Reichel-Joe Veleno-Nick Foligno

Defensemen
Alex Vlasic-Sam Rinzel
Wyatt Kaiser-Artyom Levshunov
Kevin Korchinski-Connor Murphy

Scratched
D-T.J. Brodie, D-Louis Crevier, F-Pat Maroon, D-Ethan Del Mastro

Injured
G-Laurent Brossoit (knee), F-Colton Dach (elbow), F-Jason Dickinson (wrist), D-Alec Martinez (hip)

Penguins Probable Lines

Forwards
Rutger McGroarty-Sidney Crosby-Bryan Rust
Ville Koivunen-Evgeni Malkin-Rickard Rakell
Connor Dewar-Kevin Hayes-Philip Tomasino
Danton Heinen-Blake Lizotte-Noel Acciari

Defensemen
Matt Grzelcyk-Kris Letang
Conor Timmins-Erik Karlsson
Ryan Graves-Ryan Shea

Scratched
F-Joona Koppanen, D-Vladislav Kolyachonok, F-Emil Bemstrom

Injured
D-P.O Joseph (upper body), F-Thomas Novak (lower body), F-Boko Imana (biceps)

Goaltending Matchup

Spencer Knight (15-15-2, .902 SV%, 2.67 GAA, 2 SO) vs Alex Nedeljkovic (13-14, .892 SV%, 3.19 GAA, 1 SO)