Chicago Blackhawks at Detroit Red Wings
Even when Chicago goes on a losing streak, they still grab points: since Christmas, the ‘Hawks have only won six of 12 games, yet have points in 11 of 12 of them. Essentially, that’s a great team’s version of a “slump”; losing close games and winning others. However, the ‘Hawks have managed to win three of their last four and have kept three of their last four opponents to 26 shots or fewer. Another good sign is the turnaround in penalty killing, which has been among the worst in the NHL all year but has been going along at 83.3-percent since Christmas.
Detroit was bombarded in their last home game by St. Louis, losing the game 4-1 and being outshot 39-23. When you’re an older team that is missing some key components (Pavel Datsyuk, Johan Franzen, Daniel Alfredsson, Stephen Weiss, Jimmy Howard among others), you will get blown out by very good teams. In their last six games, the Wings have been shut out by Anaheim and the Rangers while losing by a combined score of 8-2 to San Jose and St. Louis. I would say that Chicago falls into the “very good team” category.
As mentioned, Jimmy Howard is now injured (again) and Jonas Gustavsson is set to start tonight for the Wings. Gustavsson has allowed 16 goals against in his last five games and hasn’t played since December 28th, a span of three and a half weeks. He’s essentially getting thrown to the wolves tonight and I fully expect Chicago to take advantage.
I would be looking at top-end Chicago players, Corey Crawford in net (yuck) and might even throw their equipment managers in my lineups.
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Top RW Value |
Top LW Value |
Top C Value |
Top D Value |
Bargain Bin |
|
(CHI) $11,650 |
(CHI) $6900 |
(CHI) $7500 |
Duncan Keith $10,050 |
Daniel Cleary $5800 |
