The Chicago Blackhawks have their 66th game of the season, and it will take place in Las Vegas against the Vegas Golden Knights.
The Chicago Blackhawks and Vegas Golden Knights will be together for Saturday Night Hockey in Viva Las Vegas. This will be the third and final meeting of the season between these two clubs, with the season series at 1-0-1. Each team picked up a post-regulation win at home earlier in the year.
The Blackhawks are coming off consecutive overtime wins over the Utah Mammoth, one in Chicago and one in Salt Lake City. The Golden Knight hosted the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday night and defeated them 6-2. Each team has 4 wins in their last 10.
Scouting Vegas
The Vegas Golden Knights are a good team. They enter Saturday at 30-22-14. They’ve collected a lot of points by getting games to overtime, but then in turn left a lot on the table by not getting that extra point.
Although they are second in their division, they feel that there is room for improvement. Whenever you lose a player like Alex Pietrangelo to a likely career-ending injury, it’s never a good thing. He’ll be in the Hall of Fame.
They also haven’t had William Karlsson for most of the season, which weakens them down the middle. On the wing, they are strong, but they could really use Karlsson right about now. Jack Eichel and Tomas Hertl are the 1-2 center punch.
In addition to having Mitch Marner in the fold this season, other impactful players like Pavel Dorofeyev, Ivan Barbashev, and Mark Stone skate on the wing. Stone just returned from injury on Thursday, and he has resumed what’s been an incredible year for him personally.
Barbashev–Eichel–Stone
Dorofeyev–Herl–Marner
Howden–Sissons–Bowman
C. Smith–Dowd–Kolesar
McNabb–Theodore
Hanifin–Andersson
Lauzon–Korczak
Hill
Schmid
Whether it’s Adin Hill or Akira Schmid in the net, the Golden Knights need them to be at their best. Without Pietrangelo, they have a good defense, but they definitely miss their former number one.
Still, Shea Theodore, Noah Hanifin, and Rasmus Anderson were all Olympians in Milan, and they are all capable of changing the game. Chicago needs to be on their toes against them. If this group gets moderately good goaltending, they can defend against anyone.
Projected Lines, Defense Pairs, & Goalie For Chicago
The Blackhawks miss having Oliver Moore’s speed, but Ryan Donato has filled in nicely as the third-line center. With Andrew Mangiapane gaining some chemistry with him and Ilya Mikheyev, they form a pretty good third line.
Since moving back to the center, Frank Nazar has begun to produce like the third-line center that Chicago needs him to be. With both him and Connor Bedard dominating offensively, they have proven that they can beat whoever stands in their way.
Greene-Bedard-Burakovsky
Bertuzzi-Nazar-Teravainen
Mangiapane-Donato-Mikheyev
Lardis-Lafferty-Slaggert
Vlasic-Crevier
Grzelcyk-Levshunov
Del Mastro-Rinzel
Knight
Soderblom
Spencer Knight made a somewhat surprising start on Thursday against the Mammoth. He had missed the three prior games due to illness and was projected to be the backup upon his return, as he wasn’t at the morning skate. He was excellent, despite this.
This is not a back-to-back situation for the Blackhawks, and they don’t play again until Wednesday. Their decision in net could go either way.
Wyatt Kaiser was hurt late in the game on Thursday and never returned for overtime. After, Jeff Blashill would not confirm or deny his availability for Saturday’s game. If he doesn’t play, Ethan Del Mastro will draw in.
This game against the Knights is in the middle of a two-week stretch where the Blackhawks are going against some of the best teams in the conference. If they come out of this stretch with a positive record, it will be a great end-of-season storyline for their confidence.
How To Watch
The game can be heard locally on AM 720 WGN in the Chicagoland area. To view this game, it can be found on CHSN locally. Nationally, it is available to stream on ESPN+. The puck will drop shortly after 9:00 PM CT.
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