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Chicago Blackhawks (48-26-6) at St. Louis Blues (49-24-7) 7PM Central NBC Sports/CSN Chicago
THE BUZZ
The Blackhawks need to play well, plain and simple. A road point would be nice but in this case, where things like division championships and home ice in the playoffs are at stake, a win is almost critical.
Joel Quenneville seemed almost nonchalant about the loss to Minnesota at home Tuesday night. Brad Richards and Kimmo Timonen sat, rookie Kyle Baun played his first NHL game.
But the psychology of “mailing it in… in a huge road game, against a rival and a likely playoff foe, just seems insane.
Further, if you can’t win a game like this now—or at least play well enough to win—how can you expect that to miraculously change over the next week, when the stakes will be even higher?
The 2014-15 Chicago Blackhawks have spent all season trying to decide what kind of team they want to be—predator or prey. Because unlike really any Hawk team in recent memory, they’ve looked very comfortable in both roles this season.
They’re out of time and chances. It’s time for the real Blackhawks to stand up.
No read yet on exact lineups, but Alex Steen, Vladimir Tarasenko and Robert Bortuzzo are all out for St. Louis. If I had to bet, Timonen plays tonight for the Hawks, but that is purely speculation. Baun may suit up again, and quite honestly, he didn’t look out of place in his NHL debut. He’s big, moves well, seems aware and responsible and will throw some checks.
If Quennevile wants to give the Blues a taste of their own medicine, he might send Baun, along with Bryan Bickell, Andrew Shaw, and either Joakim Nordstrom or Andrew Desjardins after some St. Louis defensemen to deliver some hits and set a tone for the playoffs.
PROJECTED LINEUPS
Chicago
Versteeg Toews Hossa Saad Vermette Baun Bickell Shaw Sharp Nordstrom Kruger Teravainen
Timonen (projected) Seabrook Keith Rozsival Oduya Hjalmarsson
Crawford
St. Louis
Schwartz Stastny Oshie Jaskin Backes Berglund Jokinen Lehtera Rattie Ott Goc Reaves
Gunnarson Pietrangelo Michalek Shattenkirk Jackman Bouwmeester
Allen
I’ll recap tomorrow.
JJ