Players to Watch: CHI vs CAR (2/19/21)
(Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
The Chicago Blackhawks won both of their games in Detroit, and now they’re down in Carolina to take on the Hurricanes. The puck drops Friday, February 19 at 6pm CST, and Chicago looks to continue their win streak.
They were originally scheduled to play the Hurricanes on Friday and Saturday night. Saturday’s game is being rescheduled for a date TBA so the Tampa Bay Lightning can come to Carolina for a game. This season is all over the place. Tampa has had a few games postponed due to the weather in Texas. I guess the NHL didn’t want them to get too far behind in games played. Oh well, the Blackhawks haven’t missed a game yet. It’ll be nice to not have even more games played than the rest of the division. The other teams need to catch up so the point totals are more telling.
Speaking of points, the Carolina Hurricanes come into tonight’s game with a record of 10-3-1 - my goodness. They’ve played 4 less games than the Blackhawks due to early season COVID postponements. The Blackhawks come into this one rocking a record of 9-5-4. Here’s the thing - they’re 7-1-1 in their last 9 games. It’s been a tale of two seasons with this team through the first month and change.
So let’s jump to Goal Differential!
In 14 games played, the Carolina Hurricanes have scored 53 goals and allowed 40 for a DIFF of +13. In 18 games played, the Chicago Blackhawks have scored 52 goals and allowed 51 for a DIFF of +1.
Would you look at that!
The Blackhawks finally have a positive Goal Differential! That is a great sight to see. It is only a DIFF of +1, so they’re barely hanging onto that positive. But, if they keep playing the way they have been, that should improve by the end of the month, at the very least.
The thing to look at for tonight’s game is that Carolina has 1 more goal scored than Chicago in 4 fewer games. The Blackhawks defense and Kevin Lankinen have to be on top of their game tonight.
So, here are your players to watch!
Kevin Lankinen
Kevin Lankinen got his first career NHL shutout in Wednesday’s game in Detroit. He’s had an incredible rookie season so far. It’ll be interesting to see how he follows up that performance against a better team.
Adam Boqvist
Adam Boqvist was inserted back into the lineup in the last game after missing a couple weeks while recovering from COVID. He had a pretty good all around game. Maybe it was a good thing that his first game back was against Detroit, but now he’s up against Carolina. Will his play still hold up, or will the rust show?
Patrick Kane
Patrick Kane had a ridiculous amount of scoring chances in the last series, but none of them went in. He did pick up an assist on DeBrincat’s empty net goal, but 1 point does not tell the tale of his last game. We all know how much Patrick Kane loves scoring and putting up points. I could see him being frustrated from the lack of production and come out firing. It certainly only means great things for the Blackhawks if he does.