The Chicago Blackhawks will close out the season with a game against the San Jose Sharks.
The Chicago Blackhawks are set to close out the season with a match against the San Jose Sharks. That is the freshly eliminated from postseason contention San Jose Sharks.
Although it was a very good season, all things considered, for San Jose, they will be on the outside looking in once again.
Through the developing player rivalry between Connor Bedard and Macklin Celebrini, these two are set up for some very interesting matchups down the line.
Bedard and Celebrini draw it up as a media-driven rivalry, but two elite players born in the same part of the world who were back to number one picks are naturally going to create an interesting storyline when they are going up against one another.
Scouting San Jose
The San Jose Sharks are a good team, but they failed to be a great team. Celebrini's brilliance is the main reason that they were in the race. He has 112 points, and the next closest is Will Smith with 57. The Sharks have a handful of good players on their team, but Celebrini carried the load in a big way this year.
Chernyshov - Celebrini - Smith
Eklund - Wennberg - Sherwood
Graf - Misa - Toffoli
Goodrow - Ostapchuk - Gaudette
Orlov - Mukhamadullin
Dickinson - Ferraro
Cagnoni - Desharnais
Askarov
The greatness of the players on San Jose's first line is well known. Their second line is strong too, but their third line can be a key contributor at times.
Tyler Toffoli is the veteran there, and Michael Misa and Collin Graf are the young legs. Misa, of course, was taken one spot before Anton Frondell in the 2025 NHL Draft, while Graf chose San Jose after his collegiate career with Quinnipiac ended.
Yaroslav Askarov is going to start in goal for the Sharks. Although they are done after their final two games (they close their season out against the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday), they want to reach 40 wins as a milestone following their dead last in the NHL finish from a year ago.
Projected Lines, Defense Pairs, & Goalie For Chicago
The Blackhawks counter with some line changes from their last game. These are the line projections based on their practice on Tuesday.
Frank Nazar is up with Connor Bedard, Anton Frondell remains the second line center, and Ryan Greene moves to the third line center. Based on these lines, it looks like Sacha Boisver will be scratched again, while Sam Lafferty and Landon Slaggert will draw in.
Nazar-Bedard-Lardis
Mikheyev-Frondell-Bertuzzi
Donato-Greene-Burakovsky
Teravainen-Lafferty-Slaggert
Vlasic-Crevier
Kaiser-Rinzel
Korchinski-Del Mastro
Knight
Spencer Knight is going to start in goal for Chicago against the Sharks to close out the season. He's had a brilliant year, his first full season as Chicago's number one starter, and one of the bright spots going into the future. The defensive lineup in front of Knight will remain the same from the last game.
How To Watch
The game can be heard locally on AM 720 WGN in the Chicagoland area. To view this game, it is available on CHSN locally. Nationally, it is available to stream on ESPN+. The puck will drop shortly after 7:30 PM CT.
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