The Chicago Blackhawks were blanked by the Los Angeles Kings 2-0 on Wednesday night at United Center. Jonathan Quick stopped all 38 Hawks shots to earn his league leading 5th shutout of the season. Jarret Stoll and Trent Hunter scored for the Kings who won their second in a row. Corey Crawford stopped 36 of 38 Kings shots in the loss. It was the first regulation loss for the Hawks against the Kings in 12 meetings. The Hawks were 10-0-1 against the Kings in their last 11 meetings. The Hawks still have two remaining contests with Los Angeles this season and won’t meet again until February 25th.
Chicago sent Brandon Pirri back to Rockford on Thursday and recalled right wing Jimmy Hayes in preparation for Friday night’s first meeting of the season with the Central Division rival Red Wings. According to Chris Kuc of the Chicago Tribune Jimmy Hayes was quoted as saying “It’s a dream come true. It’s what I worked for my whole life.” Hayes is expected to make his NHL debut on Friday night. Marcus Kruger is listed as out and is still not skating. Dan Carcillo will make his return to the lineup on Friday night. Patrick Kane was centering the second line in practice on Thursday morning. Coach Joel Quenneville will reportedly not be fined for his criticism of the officiating in Wednesday night’s loss.
The Hawks will head into Friday night’s game with Detroit with 50 points, just 3 more than the Red Wings who have played one less game. Chicago will see the Red Wings 6 times between Friday and the end of the regular season and these games will go a long way to determining the Central Division Champion. The Hawks were 4-2-0 against the Wings last season but the two losses came on home ice as the Hawks were just 1-2-0 on United Center ice against Detroit last season. The Hawks will bring a 13-3-3 home record into Friday night’s big game. The Wings are just 9-10-0 on the road this season. Marian Hossa leads the Indian Head Sweaters with 40 points. He will look to improve upon that total against his former team. Jonathan Toews has a team high 20 goals. Corey Crawford will start again Friday night for the fourth straight game. For the Wings, Pavel Datsyuk leads the way with 38 points. Johan Franzen has a team high 14 goals. Expect Jimmy Howard to be between the pipes for the Wings.
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