Minnesota Wild (28-17-4, 60 pts) at Chicago Blackhawks (15-28-5, 35 pts)
Venue: United Center
Date: Sunday, January 26
Time: 6:00 pm CST
TV: ESPN+ / FDSN / CHSN
Radio:
Minnesota Wild – KFAN 100.3 FM
Chicago Blackhawks – WGN Radio 720 AM
DraftKings Sportsbook Betting Lines:
Minnesota Wild -1.5 ML -185
Chicago Blackhawks +1.5 ML +155
O/U 5.5
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Minnesota Wild News & Notes:
Minnesota is 4-6-0 in their last ten games but has been struggling even more recently, with losses in five of their last six games. The Wild’s team defense has been the problem for Minnesota, they’ve surrendered four or more goals in each of the five losses during this rough stretch. This is the fourth and final matchup between these two clubs this season with the Wild winning two out of the three previous matchups including the most recent game, a 4-3 win on December 23.
Chicago Blackhawks News & Notes:
The Blackhawks have lost four of their last five games including the last two contests in overtime. The Blackhawks and the Sharks are the only two teams in the NHL with less than 40 points at this stage of the season. Rebuilds take time but the management team in Chicago had to believe with some of the additions they made to the roster that the Blackhawks would be further along. With their position in the standings the Blackhawks have started to sell off assets – giving away Taylor Hall for a third-round pick from Carolina while retaining half of Mikko Rantanen’s salary, an inexplicable move considering they probably could have traded Hall at the deadline for a third-round pick without having to retain any salary at all. The Blackhawks have a long way to go, but the silver lining is they have a huge building block in young star Connor Bedard.
Minnesota Wild Projected Lines:
Kaprizov-Eriksson Ek-Zuccarello
Ohgren-Rossi-Boldy
Foligno-Gaudreau-Hartman
Lauko-Khusnutdinov-Trenin
Middleton-Faber
Chisholm-Spurgeon
Merrill-Bogosian
Gustavsson
Fleury
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Chicago Blackhawks Projected Lines:
Nazar-Bedard-Bertuzzi
Teravainen-Dickinson-Mikheyev
Dach-Reichel-Foligno
Maroon-Donato-Kurashev
Allan-Martinez
Vlasic-Crevier
Del Mastro-Brodie
Mrazek
Soderblom
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Players To Watch:
Minnesota Wild
Mats Zuccarello has four goals and nine assists in his last ten games, with five multi-point games over that stretch. The 37-year-old from Oslo, Norway is producing almost a point a game for the Wild with 35 points (12g, 23a) in 36 games. Zuccarello is on pace for another 20-goal season, his third for the Wild.
Chicago Blackhawks
Connor Bedard has three goals and six assists for nine points in January as he drives the offense in Chicago. He needs more help though, Bedard leads the team with 42 points in 48 games while the next closest Blackhawks player, Tuevo Teravainen, has 33 points. Bedard is on pace for 72 points, a massive jump from his 42-point rookie season.
Injury Report:
Minnesota Wild
LW Marcus Johansson – IR
D Jonas Brodin – IR
Chicago Blackhawks
D Artyom Levshunov – IR (Non-Roster)
G Laurent Brossoit – IR (Non-Roster)
D Connor Murphy – IR
F Craig Smith – IR
D Seth Jones – Day To Day
Next game:
Minnesota Wild – January 29 at Toronto Maple Leafs
Chicago Blackhawks – January 28 at Tampa Bay Lightning
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