Tonight, the Hawks kick off their final road trip of the season as they play in the penultimate game when they face off against the defending Stanley Cup Champions, the Vegas Golden Knights. The story for the Hawks coming out of their last game is that the youth movement is officially here as the Hawks begin merging some of their young talent into the NHL roster. The latest addition was Frank Nazar. Fresh off an appearance, Nazar signed his entry-level deal and wasted no time making his NHL debut 24 hours later. I have been very high on Nazar and excited to see what he brings to the organization when his time comes, and while it was only one game, I think the excitement for this player was well placed. Playing against one of the Stanley Cup favorites, the Carolina Hurricanes, Nazar held his own and looked damn good out there. The most noticeable thing about him was his speed and how quick he got to the puck. He also does a great job with positioning and seems to always be in the right place at the right time. The first sign of this was his first chance on the powerplay, where he nearly put home a rebound, but the Canes defense did a good job stick-checking him. Picking up his first career goal on his first career shot could not have been a better outcome, and it can't help but make you think about the time Toews did the same thing for his first career goal. Taking a pass from a fantastic play from Seth Jones to going on the breakaway and just letting it rip and finishing it off with the slick celebration. I think there is plenty to get excited about here in Chicago, and it's crazy to think we haven’t even fully scrambled the surface.
Next Up
The Hawks are in Sin City to take on the Knights, who are all set to defend their crown as champions. Despite them clinching a playoff spot, there is still a lot for them to play for in these final two games of the season. Right now, they sit at 96 points in the final wild card spot. They will need to win out for a chance to jump the Kings and land the final Pacific playoff spot. They will have a very good chance to do this, as after playing the Hawks, they will wrap up their season against the Ducks. The Knights are doing a good job gearing up for the playoffs, going 6-3-1 over their last ten games and currently on a 2-game win streak. While the playoff field is deep this year, you can never count out this team, especially with reinforcements coming off the LTIR once the season ends and the salary cap goes away. It would be great to make things harder for Vegas and the Hawks to steal this one, but with a 2-12-3 all-time record against Vegas, I don’t think it's in the cards.
Projected line-ups
Via Ben Pope, the only roster change tonight as of writing will be Ethan Del Mastro out of the lineup and Jaycob Megna taking his spot. I didn’t expect Del Mastro to stick around much longer as he will be reassigned to Rockford for their playoff run, but I am glad that he got a taste of NHL action as he will be one of the players to watch going into training camp next season. Petr Mrazek will get what is likely his last start of the season; let's hope he can steal one more for this team.
That’s going to be it from me puck drop is set for 9pm central time and if you are staying up late to watch remember it is an ESPN+/Hulu game. As always, Lets Go Hawks.
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