They Just Seem a Little Weird: Blackhawks vs. Golden Knights Preview
The Blackhawks are near the end of their home-heavy March schedule but have a duo of United Center dates remaining this month, starting with Friday’s game against the Vegas Golden Knights.
Team-based stats offer easy explanations for why Vegas is atop the Pacific Division with 94 points in 71 games and fourth in the league standings overall: it sits in the top 10 of the league for goals scored (3.39 per game, tied for fourth) and goals allowed (2.65 per game, seventh) while also sitting in the top 10 for its quantity (50.99 percent shot attempt share, eighth) and quality (52.40 percent expected goal share, sixth) of puck possession during 5-on-5 play. VGK simply owns the puck more than its opponents do and has the skill to turn that possession into goals that have it on the right side of the scoreboard more often than not.
The Golden Knights are getting somewhat healthier, too, with No. 1 defenseman Shea Theodore returning on Tuesday night from the injury that had him out since early February. Another top blue-liner in Alex Pietrangelo was out for Tuesday but isn’t expected to be a long-term absence. The one possible concern is with Tomas Hertl, who stayed home from VGK’s current three-game road trip with a shoulder injury that currently has an unknown severity. His absence could be a problem, as Hertl is the team’s leading goal scorer and third in overall points at 59 (31 G, 28 A) in 70 games, trailing only Jack Eichel (26 G, 64 A in 70 games) and Mark Stone (18 G, 45 A in 57 games). Old friend Brandon Saad is also here after escaping St. Louis, tallying 10 points (5 G, 5 A) in 19- games while averaging 15:02 a night, which is the perfectly adequate type of depth scoring VGK will need for another deep postseason run.
After a rougher patch in early March when Vegas lost four of five, the Knights are on a heater right now with victories in four straight and a couple of blowouts in there. The aggregate from that quarter of games is 20-7 in favor of VGK, with a 5-1 thumping of the Wild on Tuesday the most recent victory. Vegas also thumped the Hawks 7-5 at home about a month ago, grabbing a 5-1 lead in the first before the Blackhawks fake rallied their way into a briefly interesting third period. Vegas certainly seems capable of a five-goal period again, given the way it’s been playing of late.
Here was the VGK lineup from Tuesday evening:
Golden Knights lines vs Minnesota, with Korczak back in for Hutton:
Barbashev—Eichel—Stone
Saad—Roy—Dorofeyev
Olofsson—Karlsson—Smith
Pearson—Howden—Kolesar
McNabb—Theodore
Hanifin—Whitecloud
Hague—Korczak
Hill
Samsonov— Jesse Granger (@jessegranger.bsky.social) March 25, 2025 at 6:40 PM
Before we dive into more on the Blackhawks, one small item not related to this game to keep an eye on over the next handful of days: Minnesota lost in the NCAA tournament on Thursday night, which means Sam Rinzel or Oliver Moore could sign with the Blackhawks and spend a few weeks in the NHL before this season concludes.
Minnesota stunned by UMass in the NCAA Tournament. Blackhawks prospects Sam Rinzel and Oliver Moore's seasons are over; they could sign at any time.(Ryan Greene and BU won against Ohio State today.)— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) March 28, 2025
As for the current Hawks, Thursday saw Kevin Korchinski recalled from Rockford and Friday’s morning skate indicated that the 2022 No. 7 overall pick will be suiting up in this game:
Connor Bedard will be back at center tonight, according to Chicago interim head coach Anders Sorensen. #Blackhawks https://t.co/0c288ve21o— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) March 28, 2025
Bedard gets a spin at center once again while Frank Nazar has a pair of decent wingers aiding him in Teuvo Teravainen and Tyler Bertuzzi. Mikheyev and Donato have been decent enough this season, so it’s a decent enough top-six for this late-season tilt. Once again, though, we’ve got a blue line with five of the six skaters being kids and a pair of top-10 picks on it. A quick perusal of Hockey Reference suggests that the last time the Hawks had a pair of their own top-10 picks skating in the same lineup was whenever Keith Brown and Doug Wilson last teamed up in a game, which would’ve been back in the 1980s. So that’s fun! Spencer Knight will be in net.
In VGK’s brief existence, it has a 14-3-3 overall record against Chicago, which is indicative of where the two teams have been since Vegas entered the league. It’ll be a tall task in front of the Hawks again this evening, but a youth-filled lineup could always find a way to make things annoying for a veteran-filled team with an eye likely glimpsing in the direction of the postseason.
Let’s go Hawks.
Tale of the Tape
Blackhawks — Statistic — Golden Knights44.02% (32nd) — 5-on-5 Corsi For — 50.99% (8th)43.10% (32nd) — 5-on-5 Expected goals for — 52.40% (6th)2.71 (26th) — Goals per game — 3.39 (t-4th)3.57 (30th) — Goals against per game — 2.65 (7th)45.0% (31st) — Faceoffs — 50.1% (t-17th)25.7% (t-7th) — Power play — 30.1% (1st)80.9% (t-10th) — Penalty kill — 75.9% (24th)(All stats from this season)
How to watch
When: 7:30 p.m. CTWhere: United Center, ChicagoTV: CHSNWebstream: ESPN+, Hulu Radio: WGN 720
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