Chicago Blackhawks at Anaheim Ducks
Chicago is in the midst of their second seven-game road trip of the season, having gone 2-0-2 in the first four games and they have managed 15 goals in those four games. It’s nice to see their offense turn things around (ahem, Pittsburgh). It should be noted that the Chicago penalty kill has finally started to pick up their game as they’ve gone from bottom of the league to 25th in the last month or so. That might not seem exceptional, but it means their penalty kill is 88.9-percent since Christmas and that’s an elite mark. On the other side of the special teams coin, the power play has converted for four goals on their last 12 chances.
Anaheim has hit a skid of late having gone 4-5-0 in their last nine games. That will happen when you lose the possession battle more often than not over any stretch of games. With Nick Bonino out of the lineup for the next little while, the shuffle started on the Anaheim power play. While Dustin Penner found time with the Getzlaf/Perry combination at even strength and on the power play, it was Kyle Palmieri who essentially took Bonino’s spot on the top power play. With the way Chicago’s power play is playing it probably won’t matter too much for this game, but it is something to keep in mind for Saturday.
These two teams have met twice in Chicago this year with Anaheim taking the first game 3-2 in a shootout and the ‘Hawks taking the second one 4-2 with an empty netter. In other words, these two teams play really close games and despite the wealth of talent on both teams, it shouldn’t be crazy-high scoring. I would expect no more than a 4-3 game here. I don’t like taking either goalie here, for the record.
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Top RW Value |
Top LW Value |
Top C Value |
Top D Value |
Bargain Bin |
|
(CHI) $12,922 |
Kyle Palmieri (ANA) $7191 |
Brandon Pirri $3912 |
Nick Leddy $6093 |
(ANA) $5456 |
