Blackhawks at Jets

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This article was published 15/03/2018 (2737 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

>> BLACKHAWKS

Chicago (30-32-8), locked up in the Central Division cellar and 14 points back of the final wild-card spot, hasn’t had much to celebrate this season. The club did win its last game, a 3-1 triumph on home ice against Boston, and is 5-5-0 in its last 10.

Winnipeg product C Jonathan Toews doesn’t produce offensively like he used to but is still a regular contributor as he closes in on his 30th birthday in April. He has 19 goals and 30 assists on the season and comes back to his hometown with a pair of goals and four helpers in his past five games. Toews ranks third (58%) in faceoff percentage among all NHL players, with a minimum of 1,000 faceoffs taken.

RW Patrick Kane, who also turns 30 later this year, leads the ‘Hawks with 25 goals and continues to demonstrate his play-making skills, registering 41 assists. RW Alex DeBrincat is having a fine rookie campaign, netting 22 goals and adding 20 assists.

There’s still no set return date for G Corey Crawford, who hasn’t played since Dec. 23 and has been on injured reserved since late in December with what the team is calling an upper-body injury, believed to be concussion-related. In his absence, G Anton Forsberg has carried the load. This season, the Swedish-born goalie is 9-14-3 with a 2.94 goals-against average and .908 save percentage.

Blackhawks bench boss Joel Quenneville coached his 1,608th career game last weekend, moving him above Al Arbour for the second-most games coached in NHL history. He now sits behind only Scotty Bowman, who coached 2,141 career games. Quenneville is the second-winningest coach in NHL history with 881 wins, behind only Bowman (1,244 wins).

CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS

31 Anton Forsberg G

34 J.F. Berube G

2 Duncan Keith D

5 Connor Murphy D

7 Brent Seabrook D

10 Patrick Sharp LW

12 Alex DeBrincat RW

13 Tomas Jurco RW

15 Artem Anisimov C

19 Jonathan Toews C

20 Brandon Saad LW

36 Matthew Highmore C

40 John Hayden C

44 Jan Rutta D

48 Vinnie Hinostroza C

56 Eric Gustafsson D

64 David Kampf C

82 Jordan Oosterle D

88 Patrick Kane RW

91 Anthony Duclair LW

Head coach: Joel Quenneville

Assistant coaches: Kevin Dineed, Ulf Samuelsson, Don Granato

Goalie coach: Jimmy Waite

WINNIPEG JETS

1 Eric Comrie G

37 Connor Hellebuyck G

3 Tucker Poolman D

7 Ben Chiarot D

9 Andrew Copp C

13 Brandon Tanev RW

16 Shawn Matthias LW

18 Bryan Little C

25 Paul Stastny C

26 Blake Wheeler RW

27 Nikolaj Ehlers LW

29 Patrik Laine RW

33 Dustin Byfuglien D

40 Joel Armia RW

44 Josh Morrissey D

52 Jack Roslovic LW

56 Marko Dano LW

57 Tyler Myers D

70 Joe Morrow D

81 Kyle Connor LW

85 Mathieu Perreault LW

Head coach: Paul Maurice

Assistant coaches: Charlie Huddy, Jamie Kompon, Todd Woodcroft

Goalie coach: Wade Flaherty

(lineups subject to change)

— Jason Bell