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WATCH LIVE: Blackhawks face Avalanche on NBCSN

By James O'BrienMar 24, 2019, 7:29 PM EDT

NBCSN’s coverage of the 2018-19 NHL season continues with Sunday night’s matchup between the Colorado Avalanche and Chicago Blackhawks. Coverage begins at 7 p.m. ET on NBCSN. You can watch the game online and on the NBC Sports app by clicking here.

The Avalanche head into Sunday in a solid position, as they hold a one-point lead and game in hand on the closest teams behind them vying for the West’s second wild-card spot. That rosy outlook can change in a big way if the Avs can’t beat the Blackhawks, though.

Looking at The Push for the Playoffs, things don’t look very good — at all — for Chicago, but this proud team likely isn’t waving the white flag on the 2018-19 season just yet. Beating the Avalanche (particularly in regulation) would certainly improve their odds of making an unlikely run, too.

With the stakes in mind – not to mention the star power in Nathan MacKinnon, Patrick Kane, and Jonathan Toews – this should be a fun one at the United Center.

[WATCH LIVE – COVERAGE BEGINS AT 7 P.M. ET – NBCSN]

What: Colorado Avalanche at Chicago Blackhawks
Where: United Center
When: Sunday, March 24, 8 p.m. ET
TV: NBCSN
Live stream: You can watch the Avs-Blackhawks stream on NBC Sports’ live stream page and the NBC Sports app.

PROJECTED LINES

AVALANCHE

Derick Brassard — Nathan MacKinnon — J.T. Compher

Colin Wilson — Carl Soderberg — Andrew Agozzino

Alexander Kerfoot — Tyson Jost — Matt Calvert

Gabriel Bourque — Sven Andrighetto

Samuel Girard — Erik Johnson

Ian Cole — Tyson Barrie

Nikita Zadorov — Patrik Nemeth

Ryan Graves

Starting goalie: Philipp Grubauer

[More: check out this preview for Sunday’s game.]

BLACKHAWKS

Dylan Sikura — Jonathan Toews — Patrick Kane

Alex DeBrincat — Dylan Strome — Brendan Perlini

Brandon Saad — Artem Anisimov — Dominik Kahun

Chris Kunitz — David Kampf — Marcus Kruger

Duncan Keith — Brent Seabrook

Carl Dahlstrom — Erik Gustafsson

Gustav Forsling — Connor Murphy

Starting goalie: Corey Crawford

Gord Miller (play-by-play) and Joe Micheletti (‘Inside-the-Glass’ analyst) will have the call from United Center in Chicago, Ill. Pre-game coverage starts at 7 p.m. ET with NHL Live, hosted by Kathryn Tappen alongside Keith Jones and Jeremy Roenick.

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James O’Brien is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @cyclelikesedins.

WATCH LIVE: Red Wings host Blackhawks on Wednesday Night Hockey

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By Sean LeahyFeb 20, 2019, 6:30 PM EDT

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.

Blackhawks winning again behind Kane, improved power play

Associated PressFeb 11, 2019, 12:25 PM EDT
3 Comments

By Jay Cohen (AP Sports Writer

CHICAGO (AP) — Somewhere along the way, while Patrick Kane was piling up points and the special teams were rounding into form, the talk around the Chicago Blackhawks shifted from draft positioning to the wild-card standings.

Another surprising turn in a strange season.

After two eight-game losing streaks, a coaching change and a handful of trades and minor league promotions, Chicago is somehow in the mix for a playoff spot in the congested Western Conference. The Blackhawks’ second line of Dominik Kahun, Dylan Strome and Alex DeBrincat accounted for nine points in Sunday’s 5-2 victory over Detroit, running their win streak to a season-high seven in a row.

”We’re better than we were before and now we’re going to need to keep getting better,” said coach Jeremy Colliton, who took over after Joel Quenneville was fired on Nov. 6.

The Blackhawks (23-24-9) are just four points back of Minnesota for the second wild card heading into Monday’s games. But they also are just four points ahead of Anaheim and Los Angeles in last place in the conference. The last nine teams out West are separated by eight points.

For now, Colliton is more focused on how Chicago is playing than anything else.

”We’ve got to make sure we don’t think we’re just going to show up and it’ll just happen. We’ve got to work,” Colliton said. ”We’ve got to do the right things and if you do it for close to 60 minutes we’ll get the points we want and I’m pretty sure the standings will sort out.”

While the Blackhawks struggled for much of the first half of the season, Kane has been a constant force in a performance reminiscent of when he won the Hart Trophy for NHL MVP in 2016. The All-Star forward has 11 goals and 20 assists during a 14-game point streak – the longest active streak in the NHL.

After Detroit pulled within one in the third period, Kane scored his 33rd goal and then assisted on Jonathan Toews‘ empty-netter to help wrap it up for Chicago.

”He’s always involved,” Colliton said. ”When he’s on the ice, the other team knows he’s a threat and that’s nice for us to have.”

Toews and DeBrincat also have been solid this year, but one of the biggest keys to Chicago’s turnaround has been its depth scoring. Strome has four goals and 12 assists in his last nine games. Kahun had two goals and an assist against the Red Wings.

The 21-year-old Strome came over in a Nov. 25 trade with Arizona. He had a disappointing start to his career after the Coyotes took him with the No. 3 pick in the 2015 draft, but he seems to be coming into his own since joining the Blackhawks and being reunited with DeBrincat after they played together in junior hockey.

”I’m having fun playing hockey again,” Strome said. ”The team’s winning, producing offensively. I’m winning some face-offs and helping the team win. Obviously when the team wins, everyone looks better. Everyone has a good mood in the room.”

Chicago’s improved power play also has produced some big goals of late. The Blackhawks have converted at least one power-play opportunity in 15 of their last 18 games, going 23 for 59 for a 39 percent success rate over that stretch.

Mix in some solid goaltending by Cam Ward and Collin Delia, and there is a glimmer of hope for the Blackhawks after they missed the playoffs last season for the first time in a decade.

”I love that we’re playing for something and that guys have that belief in the locker room that if we keep doing what we’re doing, we’re going to give ourselves an opportunity,” Ward said. ”Obviously you take care of what you can control. We want to keep this thing rolling.”

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Jay Cohen can be reached at https://twitter.com/jcohenap

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More AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL and https://twitter.com/AP-Sports

The Buzzer: Blackhawks stay hot; Long-lasting Luongo

By James O'BrienFeb 10, 2019, 11:18 PM EDT
3 Comments

Three Stars

1. Vladimir Tarasenko

Tarasenko generated a hat trick to help the Blues sweep their home-and-home set against the Predators, with his third goal being a sweet overtime-winner for St. Louis. Things were already looking great for the Blues coming into this weekend, and now they’re trending toward being the team top West contenders do not want to face in the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

“The Tank” extended his point streak to eight games. During that span, he’s generated seven goals and five assists for 12 points. Tarasenko’s at 22 goals in 2018-19, giving him six straight seasons with 20+ goals.

It’s a good sign that Tarasenko is firing the puck a lot, too. He generated eight shots on goal on Sunday, giving him 23 SOG over the last five games.

2. Alexandar Georgiev

What a performance by the rookie New York Rangers goalie.

Georgiev stopped 55 of 56 shots on goal by the Toronto Maple Leafs, including all 23 SOG he faced during Toronto’s four unsuccessful power-play opportunities. It was quite a way for Georgiev to celebrate his 23rd birthday.

He finished just four saves short of Mike Richter’s single-game Rangers record of 59.

3. Dominik Kahun

Six different players reached three points on Sunday. Tarasenko stands out from the pack being that he’s the only won whose three points comprised a hat trick.

Kahun joins Tarasenko as the only one of the six to score a GWG on Sunday. He generated two goals and one assist as the Blackhawks beat the Red Wings to win their seventh consecutive game.

The 23-year-old’s enjoyed a reasonably solid rookie season (27 points in 56 games), but he’s been really racking up points lately. Over the last four games, Kahun’s produced three goals and four assists for seven points. Kahun’s Blackhawks teammate Alex DeBrincat also had a three-point game on Sunday, with his coming via three assists.

Sharp on CHI

Speaking of Chicago’s winning streak, here’s Patrick Sharp on his former team’s turnaround, and their chances of making the playoffs.

Highlights of the Night

As nice a goal as Ryan Callahan scored, the biggest highlight is his celebration.

The Avalanche have really been struggling, but Nathan MacKinnon is still spectacular. Video evidence:

Factoids

Scores

STL 5 – NSH 4 (OT)
CHI 5 – DET 2
BOS 2 – COL 1 (OT)
WPG 3 – BUF 1
NJD 3 – CAR 2
NYI 2 – MIN 1
TBL 5 – FLA 2
NYR 4 – TOR 1

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James O’Brien is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @cyclelikesedins.

WATCH LIVE: Blackhawks meet Capitals on NBC

By Sean LeahyJan 20, 2019, 12:30 PM EDT
2 Comments

NBC’s coverage of the 2018-19 NHL season continues with Sunday’s matchup between the Chicago Blackhawks and Washington Capitals. Coverage begins at 12:30 p.m. ET on NBC. You can watch the game online and on the NBC Sports app by clicking here.

The Capitals have hit their biggest road block in their title defense after going 3-5-2 in their last 10 games, including four straight losses (0-3-1). The last time Washington lost four straight games was in March of 2017. During this four-game losing streak, the Caps have been outscored 12-1 in 5-on-5 play, and the lone goal in that scenario came against Nashville with the team trailing 7-1 late in the third period.

The last time the Capitals lost five straight games was Oct. 26 to Nov. 4 2014.

Alex Ovechkin enters this game tied with Dave Andreychuk for 14th place on the all-time goals (640) list. He is also only five points away from tying Hockey Hall of Famer Sergei Fedorov for the most in League history by a Russian player (1,179).

The Blackhawks have lost seven of their eight games in the new year (1-4-3), including five straight losses (0-3-2) and are once again last in the NHL. Since Jeremy Colliton took charge on November 6, Chicago has lost 24 of their 34 games under their new head coach (10-18-6) after going 6-6-3 in 15 games under Joel Quenneville. The Hawks are coming off a 4-3 loss to the Rangers on Thursday.

A bright spot for Chicago has been its power play which has now scored in seven consecutive games (9-for-21, 42.9 percent). That hot streak has put them in the middle of the pack in the NHL at 18.9 percent for the season.

[WATCH LIVE – COVERAGE BEGINS AT 12:30 P.M. ET – NBC]

What: Washington Capitals at Chicago Blackhawks
Where: United Center
When: Sunday, Jan. 20, 12:30 p.m. ET
TV: NBC
Live stream: You can watch the Capitals-Blackhawks 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 – David Kampf – Marcus Kruger
John Hayden – Artem Anisimov – Chris Kunitz

Duncan Keith – Brent Seabrook
Carl Dahlstrom – Connor Murphy
Slater Koekkoek – Erik Gustafsson

Starting goalie: Collin Delia

CAPITALS
Alex Ovechkin – Nicklas Backstrom – T.J. Oshie
Jakub Vrana – Lars Eller – Tom Wilson
Andre Burakovsky – Evgeny Kuznetsov – Brett Connolly
Chandler Stephenson – Nic Dowd – Devante Smith-Pelly

Dmitry Orlov – John Carlson
Michal Kempny – Matt Niskanen
Brooks Orpik – Madison Bowey

Starting goalie: Braden Holtby

Six-time Emmy Award-winner Mike ‘Doc’ Emrick, U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame member Eddie Olczyk, and ‘Inside-the-Glass’ analyst Pierre McGuire will have the call from United Center.