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Chicago Blackhawks (12-8-1) At Colorado Avalanche (8-9-5) 8PM Central/7PM Mountain TVA SPORTS 2, CSN-CH, ALT
THE BUZZ
The Avs have come back to earth this season, after surprising the rest of the league in 2013-14. This is a team that recently seems to either give the Hawks fits, or rolls over and gets steamrolled by Chicago. The additions of veterans like Jarome Iginla and Danny Briere do not seem to have helped Colorado much, although the former is off to a decent start. Regardless, the Avs are young, talented and fast—led by a true, elite player in Gabriel Landeskog.
The Hawks get Andrew Shaw back tonight; Philip Danault has been returned to Rockford. By the way, Hawk special teams, combined, as seen below, are about as good as they’ve been in recent memory.
SPECIAL TEAMS
Chicago: PP, 9th (tied), 19.8% PK, 1st, 90.3%
Colorado: PP, 27th, 12.3% PK, 3rd, 88.5%
PROJECTED LINEUPS
Chicago
Saad Toews Hossa Versteeg Richards Kane Bickell Shaw Carcillo Nordstrom Kruger Smith
Keith Seabrook Hjalmarsson Oduya Clendening Rozsival
Crawford
Colorado
Landeskog MacKinnon Iginla O’Reilly Duchene Briere Talbot Street Vincour Carey Cliché McLeod
Hejda Johnson Guenin Barrie Holden Redmond
Berra