NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Playing their first road game since the season opener in Dallas, the Chicago Blackhawks face the Nashville Predators on Thursday night. It is the first of two Central Division matchups for the Blackhawks on this short road trip, which will also see them face the St. Louis Blues Saturday.
Thursday night’s game matches the only two teams which have yet to lose a game in regulation time this season. Nashville and Chicago have played once already, an overtime win for the Blackhawks Saturday night at the United Center.
While most of the skaters on both teams from Saturday night will be the same, the goaltenders for each will be different. Corey Crawford did not make the trip with the team due to the upper-body injury that kept him out of Tuesday’s win over the Flyers, giving Antti Raanta his second consecutive start tonight. Raanta is 1-1-0 in two career games against the Predators.
Following Thursday’s morning skate, Blackhawks head coach Joel Quenneville said that Crawford did not skate in Chicago today, but he was hoping that the goaltender would do so in the next day or two. Quenneville considers Crawford’s injury short-term.
Nashville will counter in goal with Raanta’s fellow Finn Pekka Rinne. Rinne has started each of Nashville’s games so far this season, save for the one in Chicago, where new Predators head coach Peter Laviolette gave Carter Hutton the start against his former team. Nashville had played the night before in Winnipeg, where RInne posted a shutout in the 2-0 win over the Jets.
Although he hadn’t addressed his team yet when he spoke with the media after Nashville’s morning skate, Laviolette acknowledged that despite the season being just a few weeks old, his team knows that Thursday night’s game is for first place in the Central.
“I think these guys realize where we’re at,” Laviolette said. “I think they know what’s on the line tonight. That’s not to say I won’t bring it up, but I think these guys are smart guys and they know exactly what they are dealing with tonight.”
Coming off a second straight season out of the playoffs, Nashville hired Laviolette to replace Barry Trotz, who to that point had been the only head coach in franchise history.
Quenneville echoed the sentiment of his counterpart.
“It’s a big game for us,” he said. “I know it’s a chance to get in first place. They are in a good spot. They’ve gotten off to a strong start. We saw how well they played the other day and feel that we’ve got to be better tonight in this game. At the end of the year, you never know how things are going to play out, but I think the start to the season really puts you in the right spot to determine a lot later on in the year, and playing the right way is important for us as well.”
The Blackhawks lead the league in average shots on goal per game with 40.6.
“We have lots of skill on our team,” Marian Hossa said. “I believe if our team is checking well, playing well defensively, we get a lot of pucks on our sticks that way. When we get pucks on our sticks, we create lots of chances and lots of shots.”
With a 2-0-0 record against fellow Central Division teams on the young season, the Blackhawks are off to a strong start in the division. Last season they were just 13-13-3 against the Central. Included in that record were four losses in the five games they played against Nashville. The Blackhawks were outscored 20-12 by the Predators in those games.