Blackhawks blog: Second City Hockey
TV: FS-TN (Comcast 28, Dish Network 450, DirecTV 644)
Radio: 104.5 "The Zone" (WGFX)
It's the regular season home finale tonight in Nashville, so expect a loud and raucous crowd to cheer on the Preds as they try to stay one step ahead of St. Louis in the race for the playoffs.
Questions to be answered: (1) Will Ryan Jones be ready to go, and if so, who gets scratched? (2) After a strong game Saturday that included the winning goal in the shootout, will Ville Koistinen continue to see ice time in favor of Greg de Vries? (3) Will the Sullivan/Arnott/Dumont line stick together, or be used only in time of dire need?
Blackhawks coming in: Thanks to a three-game winning streak, Chicago seems pretty well positioned for 4th place in the West, with home-ice advantage and matchup with Vancouver in the first round.
Predators coming in: A dramatic shootout victory over Columbus Saturday night has them in 8th place, just ahead of St. Louis due to a tiebreaker (Nashville has more wins). The injury situation finally took a turn for the better with Jason Arnott back in the lineup, and Jones should be ready any day now.
Here's a look at the two teams in the main statistical categories, along with overall NHL rank:
| Chicago | Nashville | |||
| Record | 43-24-11 | 6th | 39-32-8 | 17th |
| Pts % | .622 | 6th | .544 | 17th |
| Goals For/Game | 3.15 | 5th | 2.51 | 24th |
| Goals Against/Game | 2.59 | 5th | 2.70 | 9th |
| 5-on-5 GF/GA | 1.15 | 5th | 0.95 | 19th |
| PP% | 19.3 | 13th | 15.4 | 25th |
| PK% | 80.6 | 17th | 83.5 | 3rd |
| Shots/Game | 33.1 | 4th | 29.0 | 19th |
| Shots Against/Game | 28.7 | 7th | 29.4 | 11th |
| FO % | 48 | 23rd | 52.2 | 3rd |
Next, let's see which players draw penalties, and which ones head to the box (data through April 5):
| Chicago | Penalties Drawn | Nashville | Penalties Drawn | ||||
| Player | Draws | Fouls | Pen +/- | Player | Draws | Fouls | Pen +/- |
| Ben Eager | 32 | 43 | -11 | Jordin Tootoo | 50 | 45 | +5 |
| Patrick Kane | 31 | 19 | +12 | Martin Erat | 25 | 24 | +1 |
| Jonathan Toews | 28 | 23 | +5 | Ryan Jones | 24 | 10 | +14 |
| Kris Versteeg | 27 | 14 | +13 | Dan Hamhuis | 23 | 25 | -2 |
| Colin Fraser | 27 | 17 | +10 | Vern Fiddler | 22 | 13 | +9 |
| Dustin Byfuglien | 27 | 28 | -1 | Joel Ward | 21 | 12 | +9 |
| Penalties Taken | Penalties Taken | ||||||
| Ben Eager | 32 | 43 | -11 | Jordin Tootoo | 50 | 45 | +5 |
| Dustin Byfuglien | 27 | 28 | -1 | Ryan Suter | 18 | 36 | -18 |
| Brent Seabrook | 16 | 27 | -11 | Shea Weber | 16 | 35 | -19 |
| Matt Walker | 16 | 25 | -9 | Greg de Vries | 15 | 24 | -9 |
| Duncan Keith | 8 | 25 | -17 | Dan Hamhuis | 23 | 25 | -2 |
| Jonathan Toews | 28 | 23 | +5 | Martin Erat | 25 | 24 | +1 |
Courtesy of Second City Hockey, here are the Blackhawks' lines:
And the goaltenders?