Players to Watch: CHI vs FLA (1/17/21)
(Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
The two game series against Tampa Bay is finally over. We don’t have to see them again until March. Hopefully we can take a breath and see what this team looks like against teams that are a bit more average.
The next two game series for the Blackhawks is in Sunrise, Florida as they face the Panthers. Both teams are in a unique spot heading into Sunday night. The Blackhawks are coming off of a series where they lost both games but seemed to get better as it went on.
The Florida Panthers will be playing their first game. They were scheduled to take on the Dallas Stars for their first two games of the season, but those games were postponed due to Stars players testing positive for COVID-19. Florida also doesn’t have their starting goaltender, Sergei Bobrovsky, available for Sunday’s game. He may be back on Tuesday, but otherwise they are rolling with Chris Driedger (starting Sunday) and Sam Montembeault.
A side story to keep an eye on - Keith Yandle currently holds the longest iron-man streak in the NHL for consecutive games played at 866 games. His streak dates all the way back to March 26, 2009. A few days ago, the story broke that the Panthers don’t see him as part of their future plans and may scratch him for Sunday’s game. The newest thread in that weird story is that he was back on the top powerplay unit in practice this weekend. With Coach Q at the helm, you really never know what will happen. If he’s a healthy scratch on Sunday, that would be a horrible end to his impressive streak.
Anyway, here are three Blackhawks to watch on Sunday.
Pius Suter
Pius Suter was moved up the lineup to center Patrick Kane and Alex DeBrincat. That’s quite the reward for the new guy on the team. He’s earned it. He has 8 shots on goal through 2 games. While he remains pointless, the points will come if he keeps generating those chances. He has a sneaky good stick to get the puck out of trouble. There were multiple times against Tampa Bay when he could have thrown it to an area and hoped for the best, but he stayed strong on his stick and got out of trouble before sending it deep into Tampa’s zone. The inability to clear the puck is an issue that has plagued the Blackhawks for a long time. If he can keep that up while also getting scoring chances, Suter is going to be a very good player for the Hawks.
Philip Kurashev
Philip Kurashev was called up from the Taxi Squad prior to Friday’s game to replace Brandon Pirri in the lineup. I’m sure we’ll see Pirri hit the ice again, but it better not be as a replacement of Kurashev. It was Kurashev’s first NHL game, and he looked like he belonged more than some of the vets have to this point.
Alex DeBrincat
Alex DeBrincat put up 2 points on Friday with a (PP) goal and an assist on a Patrick Kane goal. Scoring that first goal seemed to awaken the scoring beast in him and some more good chances followed. The Blackhawks were facing a top-tier goaltender in Andrei Vasilevskiy. When they visit the Panthers, they are set to face a back up goalie. I’ll be looking for DeBrincat to build off of the last game and put up a few more points. If he gets rolling early, this season will be a lot easier to handle.
It’s now been confirmed that Collin Delia is in net for Sunday’s game. I’ll throw him in as a bonus player to watch.