Follow JJ on Twitter @jaeckel!
Chicago Blackhawks (23-10-2) at Colorado Avalanche (13-13-8) 8PM Central/7 Mountain CSN Chi/ALT
THE BUZZ
The Blackhawks look to regain form at the Pepsi Center tonight after a somewhat humiliating home defeat against the Jets in their last outing.
Meanwhile the Avs have been in a season long struggle to equal their output of last season. Hawks/Avs games typically seem kind of one-sided, with one team or the other dominating. And this game might come down to the goalies—youngster Calvin Pickard starts for the Avs, and he is red hot with a 1.61 GAA and .955 save% over his last six starts. And Colorado is kryptonite for Corey Crawford (3-6-2, .874 save%, 3.22 GAA, career).
Crawford was pulled in the loss to the Jets, in just his second game back from extended injury absence. So a solid performance tonight is critical for him and the Hawks.
THE NUMBERS
Power Play Chicago, 17th, 17.7% Colorado, 24th, 15.0%
Penalty Kill Chicago, 1st, 90.7% Colorado, 7th, 86.2%
THE LINEUPS
Chicago
Saad Toews Hossa Versteeg Sharp Kane Bickell Shaw Carcillo Nordstrom Kruger Smith
Keith Seabrook Oduya Hjalmarsson Rundblad Rozsival
Crawford
Colorado
Talbot Duchene MacKinnon Landeskog O'Reilly Briere Tangua Mitchell Iginla McLeod Cliche Everberg
Hejda Johnson Guenin Barrie Stuart Redmond
Pickard
All for now, I'll recap tomorrow.
JJ