Ducks at Blackhawks
The Chicago Blackhawks are closer to the bottom of the Western Conference than playoff position after a pair of key home losses and will try to head back in the right direction when they host the struggling Anaheim Ducks on Saturday. Chicago fell to Calgary 2-1 on Tuesday and Nashville 5-2 on Thursday - teams they are chasing in pursuit of the postseason - and has lost three of four after winning five of its previous six games.
"If we want to catch anybody, these are must-win games,'' a disappointed Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews told reporters after recording two assists while a minus-2 on Thursday. "We knew that coming into the last couple games and it's unfortunate to come up short." Anaheim has lost five of its last six contests after a 3-0 setback to Dallas on Thursday and is last in the Western Conference as it begins a five-game trip. "I'm not disappointed with the effort,'' Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf told the media. "We made a couple of mistakes that ended up in our net. We have to find ways to score goals. It's a tough league to do it in. We have to find a way here." Chicago prevailed 3-2 on Nov. 3 at home on Patrick Kane's goal 24 seconds into overtime for its second straight series win and third in the last four meetings.
TIME: 8:30 p.m. ET. TV: Prime Ticket, NBCS Chicago Plus
ABOUT THE DUCKS (17-22-5): Jakob Silfverberg (team-high 15 goals, 28 points) missed Thursday's game after leaving Tuesday's 4-3 loss to Columbus with an upper-body injury. The club produces the second-fewest goals per contest in the league at 2.48 with Silfverberg, Adam Henrique (14), Getzlaf (11) and Rickard Rakell (10) accounting for 45.9 percent of the scores. Cam Fowler (23 points) leads the club in plus-minus (plus-3) and averages 21 minutes, 53 seconds of ice time per game - second to Hampus Lindholm (22:38), who is a club-worst minus-11.
ABOUT THE BLACKHAWKS (19-20-6): Robin Lehner (12-7-4, 2.92 goals-against average, .922 save percentage) is expected to play after missing the last three games with a knee injury after serving as Corey Crawford's back-up Thursday. Kane (994 career points) has four goals and five assists in his last five contests and leads the club with 24 goals and 56 points. Dominik Kubalik (14 goals, second among league rookies) has scored in three straight games while Toews owns 33 points - five in four January contests.
OVERTIME
1. Chicago C Dylan Strome (10 goals, 30 points) missed Thursday's game after leaving Tuesday's contest with an ankle injury.
2. Anaheim has allowed a power-play goal in three straight games and is 4-for-8 penalty killing in that span while each club is in the bottom six in the league with the man advantage.
3. Blackhawks D Erik Gustafsson - one of four on the team averaging more than 20 minutes of ice time - is set to play his 200th game.