The top team in the NHL standings will be on the ice at the United Center this evening, as the Blackhawks host the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday night.

The Avalanche are burying opponents on a nearly nightly basis, with just one regulation loss in their first 21 games (15-1-5). They enter this game on an 8-game winning streak, most recently beating the Nashville Predators 3-0 on the road on Saturday night, which means the possibility of heavy legs for the visitors does exist. Still, this team is an offensive juggernaut at the moment, averaging a league-best 4.14 goals per games while scoring at least three times in each of the games on this current surge, including a pair of six-goal games and 9-1 dismantling of the Edmonton Oilers up in Canada a few weeks ago. So, yeah, this team is rolling.

Nathan MacKinnon continues to produce one of the league’s most terrifying sights when the puck is on his stick against your team, as he leads the league in goals (17) and points (37) and is currently on pace for a 144-point season. Cale Makar is conjuring nightmares from the blue line with 28 points (8 G, 20 A) in 21 games. While those are once again the main attractions here, there are several other potent weapons in Colorado’s arsenal, which is part of why they’ve been so good to start this season. Martin Necas has proven to be a solid return in the Mikko Rantanen trade with Carolina last season and has 28 points (13 G, 15 A) in 21 games. Artturi Lehkonen has been a consistent producer when not sidelined by injury, and he’s been on the ice for all 21 games with 19 points (8 G, 11 A) as a result. Decent production has also come from Victor Olofsson (15 points in 21 games), Valeri Nichushkin and Brock Nelson (12 apiece in 21). And while he has just seven points this season, having captain Gabriel Landeskog back for the regular season after he missed the prior three — returning during last year’s postseason — was yet another boost for a team that’s rocketed to the moon.

And that’s just the offense! Colorado also has the best goals-against rate in the league at 2.29, with Scott Wedgewood (12-1-2 record, .913 save percentage and 2.23 goals-against average) doing most of the heavy lifting there. The blue line in front of him may be relying on 40-year-old Brent Burns a little too much (20:02 ATOI) but it’s working for now. Devon Toews joins the aforementioned Makar on Colorado’s top pair that’s one of the league’s best duos, which means Sams Girard and Malinski can receive the cushier assignments from the third pairing.

Colorado is an incredible force right now and the only advantageous thing for Chicago is that this game is the tail-end of a back-to-back for the Avs. With backup Mackenzie Blackwood playing on Saturday night, expect Wedgewood to start in this one. Here’s the rest of the Colorado lineup from that Predators game:

Avalanche lines against Nashville:

Lehkonen – MacKinnon – Necas
Colton – Nelson – Landeskog
Kelly – Drury – Olofsson
Nielsen – Bardakov – Polin

Toews – Makar
Manson – Burns
Girard – Malinski

Blackwood in net

— Evan Rawal (@evanrawal) November 23, 2025

As for the Hawks, the team hasn’t been riding as high as the Avs at any point this season, but things were significantly rosier before the team blew a two-goal lead in the third period at home against the Kraken on Thursday night and then were demolished by a garbage Sabres team on Friday night. Saturday’s off day was likely needed and the lineup may have a familiar face returning as well, with Jason Dickinson expected to play based on developments at the morning skate. He was flanked by Ryan Donato and Ilya Mikheyev on Chicago’s third line, with the rest of the lineup detailed below:

Blackhawks lines:

Greene-Bedard-Bertuzzi
Teravainen-Nazar-Moore
Donato-Dickinson-Mikheyev
Slaggert-Dach-Lafferty

Vlasic-Crevier
Kaiser-Levshunov
Grzelcyk-Murphy
Rinzel

— Greg Boysen (@gregboysen.bsky.social) November 23, 2025 at 9:46 AM

Burakovsky remains out, and there’s the possibility that Dickinson’s return could also mean the return of a more traditional 12 F/6 D approach that would likely come with Sam Rinzel as the odd man out on the blue line, given his recent struggles on the ice. But that won’t be known until the Blackhawks take the ice later this evening.

Sunday evening is as good a time as any to get things moving back in a much better direction, even if that’s going to require some heavy lifting against a team that’s currently the league’s best. But difficult doesn’t mean impossible, either.

Let’s go Hawks.

Tale of the Tape

Blackhawks — Statistic — Avalanche
45.79% (28th) — 5-on-5 Corsi For — 55.59% (2nd)
44.98% (27th) — 5-on-5 Expected goals for — 58.12% (1st)
3.29 (7th) — Goals per game — 4.14 (1st)
2.86 (t-11th) — Goals against per game — 2.29 (1st)
46.3% (28th) — Faceoffs — 49.3% (19th)
25.0% (7th) — Power play — 16.3% (24th)
82.7% (11th) — Penalty kill — 86.6% (3rd)
(All stats from this season)

How to watch

When: 6 p.m. CT
Where: United Center, Chicago
TV: CHSN
Webstream: ESPN+/Hulu
Radio: WGN 720