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WATCH LIVE: Red Wings host Blackhawks on Wednesday Night Hockey

Detroit Red Wings v Chicago Blackhawks

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - FEBRUARY 10: Patrick Kane #88 of the Chicago Blackhawks is pressured by Jonathan Ericsson #52 of the Detroit Red Wings at the United Center on February 10, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

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NBCSN’s coverage of the 2018-19 NHL season continues with the Wednesday Night Hockey matchup between the Chicago Blackhawks and Detroit Red Wings. Coverage begins at 6:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN. You can watch the game online and on the NBC Sports app by clicking here.

The Blackhawks have won nine of their last 11 games (9-2-0), including seven straight wins from Jan. 20 – Feb. 10, to climb right back into the playoff race. On the morning of January 20, exactly one month ago, the Blackhawks had 41 points and were dead last in the NHL. Now, as of Tuesday morning, they have 59 points, and are just one point behind the Minnesota Wild, who currently owns the second wild card in the Western Conference.

Patrick Kane is having arguably the best year of his career, and should the Blackhawks rally to make the playoffs, he could perhaps win his second career Hart Trophy. He’s currently on a season-best 18-game point streak (40 points: 14 goals, 26 assists), and is averaging 1.53 points/game, which would be the best of his 12-year career. He has an assist in 17 straight games... only two players in NHL history have posted a longer assist streak than Kane – Wayne Gretzky (23 games – 1990-91) & Adam Oates (18 games – 1992-93).

The NHL Trade Deadline is less than a week away and Detroit has a few key players that are set to become unrestricted free agents at the end of the season: Gustav Nyquist, Thomas Vanek, Niklas Kronwall, Nick Jensen, Luke Witkowski and Jimmy Howard.

Red Wings GM Ken Holland has been weighing whether he should try to sign some of the pending free agents or trade them – with a focus on Howard, Nyquist and Jensen specifically. Holland said he’d like to sign all three to extensions – and all three players have expressed a desire to stay – but a deal must work for both sides.

“I need to weigh which of them we consider re-signing because they can help us in ’19-20 and then we maybe need to do something to add to that in the summer of ’19 because if you just trade all those players away your team is worse,” he said. “So now you got to make moves to get back to where you’re at and even beyond and that’s hard to do in the summer.” [WATCH LIVE – COVERAGE BEGINS AT 6:30 P.M. ET – NBCSN]

What: Chicago Blackhawks at Detroit Red Wings Where: Little Caesars Arena When: Wednesday, Feb. 20, 6:30 p.m. ET TV: NBCSN Live stream: You can watch the Blackhawks-Red Wings stream on NBC Sports’ live stream page and the NBC Sports app.

PROJECTED LINEUPS

BLACKHAWKS Drake Caggiula - Jonathan Toews - Patrick Kane Alex DeBrincat - Dylan Strome - Dominik Kahun Brandon Saad - Artem Anisimov - Dylan Sikura Chris Kunitz - Marcus Kruger - John Hayden

Duncan Keith - Erik Gustafsson Carl Dahlstrom - Connor Murphy Slater Koekkoek - Gustav Forsling

Starting goalie: Cam Ward

RED WINGS Tyler Bertuzzi - Dylan Larkin - Anthony Mantha Thomas Vanek - Frans Nielsen - Gustav Nyquist Andreas Athanasiou - Luke Glendening - Christoffer Ehn Darren Helm - Jacob de la Rose - Justin Abdelkader

Niklas Kronwall - Mike Green Danny DeKeyser - Nick Jensen Trevor Daley - Filip Hronek

Starting goalie: Jimmy Howard

MORE: Jonathan Toews is back

For the first time in his career, Mike Tirico will call play-by-play for an NHL game on Wednesday when the Red Wings host the Blackhawks. He’ll be joined in the booth by Eddie Olczyk and ‘Inside-the-Glass’ analyst Brian Boucher. Pre-game coverage starts at 6:30 p.m. ET with NHL Live, hosted by Kathryn Tappen alongside Mike Milbury, Keith Jones and Bob McKenzie.