After blowing a three goal lead against the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday night, the Chicago Blackhawks will look to get back on the right side of things on Friday night when they take on the New Jersey Devils in Newark.
Unfortunately for the Blackhawks, they will still be without one of their key contributors, as Marian Hossa did not make the trip with the team to New Jersey. Hossa was injured in the team’s loss to the Minnesota Wild last week, and he has missed the last two games with a lower body injury.
The Blackhawks’ offense has been solid without Hossa in the mix, scoring nine goals and grabbing three out of a possible four points in the standings despite their overtime loss Wednesday.
The Blackhawks did make a roster tweak earlier this week when they sent Ryan Hartman back to the AHL, and so the team’s third line will have a slightly different make-up for the game. Tanner Kero will remain at center and Marko Dano will play left wing, but Viktor Tikhonov will play on the right side after Hartman was there for the previous three games.
The Blackhawks will also turn back to Corey Crawford in net after he surrendered six goals to the Blues in Wednesday’s loss. Even with that poor performance, Crawford is still having a solid season for the Blackhawks, sporting a 6-3-1 record with a .924 save percentage and a 2.20 goals against average on the season.
As for the Devils, they come into the game with a 6-5-1 record, but it’s been hard to get a read on their chances of making a playoff run. The team’s offense isn’t great, averaging just 2.3 goals per game, but their power play has been excellent, currently sitting in 8th place in the league. That success has not translated into the penalty kill however, as they’ve got one of the five worst PK units in the NHL.
In spite of their scoring struggles, the Devils do have several players worth keeping an eye on in the game. Center Adam Henrique has had an excellent start to the season, as he’s scored six goals in 12 games and is on pace for an excellent season. Travis Zajac is nipping at his heels with five goals on the campaign, and Mike Cammalleri has shown a predisposition for facilitating on the offensive end, racking up eight assists to help lead the team in points so far this year.
