The Chicago Blackhawks are set to play an afternoon matinee against the Ottawa Senators on Saturday. Losers of four straight, they have fallen out of favor in the Western Conference. At 13-15-6, they sit five points behind the playoff line. As for Ottawa, winners of two straight, they are now 16-13-4. It's been an up-and-down season for them, as they are four points out of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The difference between the two conferences is evident in this matchup. Scouting Ottawa The Ottawa Senators have the expectation of being a playoff team in 2025-26. They were a playoff team last year and gave the Toronto Maple Leafs all they could handle in the first round. Now, they'd like to take another step, but there is some work to do. Their captain, Brady Tkachuk, was injured for some time during this season, but he's back and starting to light it up. Around him is a ton of talent at every position. Tkachuk - Stutzle - Zetterlund Perron - Cozens - Batherson Amadio - Greig - Giroux MacDermid - Halliday - Cousins Sanderson - Zub Kleven - Spence Matinpalo - Jensen Ullmark Merilainen Linus Ullmark started in goal for Ottawa in their last game, which means that Leevi Merilainen could get the nod in this one, but Ullmark is no stranger to making two starts in a row. The trick for the Senators is that they play again on Sunday, so each of them is going to get a start. Ullmark is more likely to go against the team he won the Vezina Trophy with in the Boston Bruins, leaving Merilainen for the Chicago game one day prior. Outside of Tkachuk, Tim Stutzle is the catalyst for all offense on this team. That top line is as good as it gets in the NHL. Ottawa needs some of their depth to start showing out a little more. On defense, Jake Sanderson is an elite player. When he is on the ice, you can expect the Blackhawks to pay extra close attention to him. Projected Lines, Defense Pairs, & Goalie For Chicago The Chicago Blackhawks are trying to change up all sorts of things in order to get back on track. That includes their line combinations. Burakovsky - Nazar - Bertuzzi Mikheyev - Dickinson - Moore Donato - Greene - Teravainen Lafferty - Dach - Lardis Vlasic - Crevier Grzelcyk - Levshunov Kaiser - Murphy This is entirely different from the lineup that they used against the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night. After practice on Friday, head coach Jeff Blashill wouldn't confirm that these lines would stick for the game. Warmups will be very telling in this regard. Ethan Del Mastro and Dominic Toninato were the extras in practice, but their status for this game against Ottawa is still unknown based on Blashill's lineup comments. Following this game, the Blackhawks don't play until Tuesday night, so it is hard to predict what the goaltending situation will be. Arvid Soderblom has been struggling a bit lately, but this is a typical situation he encounters. If Blashill wants to change it up and use Knight with two days of rest and the holiday break upon them, that wouldn't be much of a surprise either. 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 locally on CHSN. It can be streamed nationally on ESPN+. The puck will drop shortly after 2:00 PM CT. Image [https://deweb-519a7.b-cdn.net/post-images/facaeb00-351d-4b04-9d69-3ee7299aa466.jpeg] Visit The Hockey News Chicago Blackhawks [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/chicago-blackhawks/] team site to stay updated on the latest news [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/nashville-predators/latest-newshttps://thehockeynews.com/nhl/chicago-blackhawks/latest-news], game-day [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/nashville-predators/game-dayhttps://thehockeynews.com/nhl/chicago-blackhawks/game-day] coverage, player features [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/nashville-predators/playershttps://thehockeynews.com/nhl/chicago-blackhawks/players], and more. For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free [https://thehockeynews.store/products/print-subscription]. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here [http://eepurl.com/i7OC4I]. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com or creating your own post in our community forum.
