TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS AT CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS
Wednesday, 8 P.M., United Center
TV: Sportsnet RADIO: FAN 590
THE BIG MATCHUP
RW Patrick Kane vs. D Jake Gardiner
Kane is Chicago’s only 20-goal scorer in a puzzling season where the Hawks rank last in their division in offence. He usually does well against the Leafs. Speaking of perplexing, Gardiner has four points his past two games, but as always, his own-zone game is under extra scrutiny.
FIVE KEYS TO THE GAME
Blackhawks down
The Leafs might not get a better chance to end a long slide in the Windy City, without a win since 2003 in their sporadic visits. With goalie Corey Crawford out, the Hawks are treading water at home with a .500 record and were shut out by Tampa Bay on Monday. “That hole’s getting deeper,” coach Joel Quenneville warned after the Bolts blanked them.
Goals in great demand
While Chicago has struggled with just six goals in its past five games, Toronto’s offence has slipped, too. Only twice in its past six have they reached three in a game and other than Auston Matthews getting in gear, there hasn’t been much secondary scoring. Matthews, by the way, had an OT winner against the Hawks at the ACC in October.
Fred sees red
Frederik Andersen is hitting a bump just before the all-star break, giving up six goals on 44 shots over his past two starts. Chicago’s Jeff Glass made 29 stops on Monday against the Bolts. This likely will be Andersen’s last start before the break, with Curtis McElhinney up to play Dallas on Thursday.
Line dancing
The Hawks mixed things up before losing to Tampa Bay, while Maple Leafs head coach Mike Babcock added Kasperi Kapanen on Tuesday and will move Mitch Marner to Nazem Kadri’s wing in hopes of getting both forwards rolling .
De-stabilized
In its second game without injured Morgan Rielly, the Leafs defence was a lot less cohesive. But look for a big game by Connor Carrick in his home town.
BLACKHAWKS GAME DAY LINES
LW C RW
Brandon Saad Jonathan Toews Anthony Duclair
Patrick Sharp Nick Schmaltz Patrick Kane
Alex DeBrincat Artem Anisimov Ryan Hartman
Tomas Jurco David Kampf Vince Hinostroza
DEFENCE PAIRINGS
Duncan Keith Jordan Oesterle
Erik Gustafsson Brent Seabrook
Michal Kempny Connor Murphy
GOALIES
Anton Forsberg
Jeff Glass
SICK BAY
G Corey Crawford
D Michal Rozsival
F Marian Hossa
LEAFS GAME DAY LINES
LW C RW
Zach Hyman Auston Matthews William Nylander
Patrick Marleau Nazem Kadri Mitch Marner
James van Riemsdyk Tyler Bozak Connor Brown
Leo Komarov Dominic Moore Kasperi Kapanen
DEFENCE PAIRINGS
Jake Gardiner Ron Hainsey
Travis Dermott Connor Carrick
Andreas Borgman Roman Polak
GOALIES
Frederik Andersen
Curtis McElhinney
SICK BAY
D Morgan Rielly
D Nikita Zaitsev
F Nikita Soshnikov
SPECIAL TEAMS
Power Play
Toronto 20.4% (10th)
Chicago14.8% (29th)
Penalty killing
Toronto 83.8% (3rd)
Chicago 82.5% (10th)