The Nashville Predators will look to build a new winning streak tonight against the Chicago Blackhawks.
It’s been a rough season in Chicago, with few wins and big losses. Their offense has struggled, both on the power play and at even strength; they have a surprisingly decent penalty kill given their poor even-strength defense.
Connor Bedard, unsurprisingly, stands out among the skaters for offensive production. He’s got 20 points on the season, including a team-leading 11 goals. The only other players to have accumulated double-digit points are Philipp Kurashev (4G/9A), Jason Dickinson (7G/5A), and Ryan Donato (4G/6A).
The roster as a whole is incredibly different from the Chicago Blackhawks we all know and loathe, with names like Seth Jones, Tyler Johnson, Nick Foligno, and–currently recovering from knee surgery–Taylor Hall. They also have a crop of young defenders joining Bedard; it’ll be interesting to see what they grow into.
Petr Mrázek is the 1A goalie, with a .899 sv% over 14 games played. Arvid Söderblom, the 24-year-old 1B, has a .883 in 11 games. It’s a little below average, but they really haven’t been helped by the defense in front of them, and scoring as a whole is up this season. Well, for most of the league; the Blackhawks themselves have had their offensive struggles worsen lately, both in terms of chance generation and in terms of what they do with the chances they get.
The game airs at 7:30 PM on Bally Sports South and 102.5 The Game.
Statistics from naturalstattrick.com. Additional background from hockeyviz.com.