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Chicago Blackhawks (40-21-6) at San Jose Sharks (34-26-8) 3PM Central/1PM Pacific WGN/CSCA
THE BUZZ
The Hawks adjusted their style of play versus the Coyotes the other night and it worked. Hawk forwards were taking the puck to the net hard all night, and three pucks went in, although one was disallowed. And Arizona goalie Mike Smith reverted to 2012 form, standing on his head most of the night.
In the absence of Patrick Kane, the Hawks have tightened it up defensively, and getting Johnny Oduya back from injury the other night definitely helped. But without their star forward and playmaker, the Hawks are also forced to become more grinding and workmanlike on offense.
Today, the Hawks' newfound approach gets put to a tougher test—against a good team fighting for a spot in the playoffs. Sure, the Sharks are rumored to have a fractured dressing room—so were the Hawks themselves a couple of weeks ago. The bottom line is the Hawks will likely not have any easy ones until Kane returns—either in this year's playoffs or at the start of next season.
Ben Smith centers the Sharks' fourth line and Andrew Desjardins skates left wing on Marcus Kruger's line in the first meeting of these clubs since the two players were traded for one another.
THE LINEUPS (PROJECTED)
Chicago
Versteeg Toews Hossa Saad Vermette Teravainen Bickell Richards Sharp Desjardins Kruger Shaw
Timonen Seabrook Keith Rozsival Hjalmarsson Oduya
Crawford
San Jose
Karlssson Pavelski Thornton Marleau Couture Nieto Hertl Tierney Wingels Scott Smith Goodrow
Vlasic Braun Hannan Burns Mueller Dillon
Niemi
Back tomorrow,
JJ