The Chicago Blackhawks will welcome Andrew Shaw back into the lineup on Saturday night against the St. Louis Blues, and he’ll take up residence in a familiar spot as the Hawks looks to avoid elimination for the second straight game.
Shaw will play on the top line for the Blackhawks, skating alongside Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane for the critical contest. Richard Panik had skated on the top line in Game 5 for the Blackhawks, but he’ll drop down to the fourth line for Game 6, skating with Andrew Desjardins and Dale Weise on the bottom trio.
The team’s second and third lines will remain unchanged for Saturday’s game. Artemi Panarin and Teuvo Teravainen will play together on the second line, with Artem Anisimov at the center spot, and Andrew Ladd and Marian Hossa will skate alongside Marcus Kruger on the third grouping.
For the Blackhawks, they’ll have to hope that the line combinations produce more effectively than they did in Game 5. Even though the Hawks won, they were outchanced by the Blues, and St. Louis had 14 more shot attempts at even strength in the game. Only seven Blackhawks players had positive Corsi figures in the game, with Brandon Mashinter leading the way at a plus-8 in the contest.
