The Blackhawks are back in action tonight as they look to put Tuesday's embarrassing performance behind them and take on the Nashville Predators. This will be the first of four matchups against the divisional rivals as the Hawks look to improve on their 0-3-1 record against the Preds just a year ago, and those matchups weren’t even close as the Hawks were outscored 16-6. Now Nashville comes into this season with high expectations going all out this summer, bringing in future Hall of Famer Steven Stamkos, Stanley Cup Champion Jonathan Marchessault, and defenseman Brady Skjei. Adding those teams to an already solid team, you would think they would be in the hunt for the best in the Central. However, six games in that just isn’t the case. Starting off the season 0-5, they were able to pick up their first win on Tuesday against the Bruins, but not the ideal start for a team who had eyes set on the playoffs. Stamkos has 1 goal in 6 games. As he tries to learn to play outside of Tampa Bay and outside of Filip Forsberg and Ryan O’Reilly (2-4-6), there hasn’t been much offensive production throughout the lineup. Their last time out was the first time this season this team looked to be as advertised, which could be a bad sign for the Hawks.
As of posting, there isn’t any word on starting goalie for the Preds, but expect to see Hawks killer Juuse Saros in net. He has a career record of 12-3-2 against the Hawks with a.933 save percentage and two shutouts.
Projected Lineup
After the healthy scratch on Tuesday, Kurashev finds himself back in his usually 2C role. It will be interesting to see how he responds to this situation and if he comes out tonight with a fire under him to prove he can still be the 54-point player he was a year ago. From an outsider looking in, I think it’s becoming very clear that the Bedard effect is real. Is Kurashev a good hockey player? Yes. Is he a legitimate carry his own line type of player? No. That is ok, some guys just are meant to be supporting cast members, and this is where they thrive. How many guys have had long careers or looked like superstars because they got to play with the Sidney Crosbys and Connor McDavids of the world? The Hawks are in this situation where they don’t have legit options for that second-line center role, so Kurashev has had to step up and try to fill it. Short-term, that is fine, but I think the longer he struggles in this role, the worse his confidence is going to be and could get to the point of no return. How do they fix this? You might have to look at Foligno at the 2C spot, give some minutes to Dickinson, and even give Reichel some time there as well. Again, no matter what they do there, it’s only going to be a band-aid fix. I don’t expect to see real changes coming this season unless there is a, it’s too good to be true, type of deal for a player who can be that guy.
According to Coach Richardson, the plan in net is for Petr Mrazek to get tonight's game against the Preds and Soderblom to get the Stars tomorrow in Dallas. Personally, I would flip that, but I could see wanting to try and get Mrazek back out there to put the last games. 800 save percentage performance behind him.
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