Fresh off the snapping of a six-game losing streak, the Hawks are back home on Sunday night to host the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Somehow, in the year 2025, a preview involving this Pittsburgh franchises still requires writing the names Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang, as all three remain key contributors for the team despite Crosby and Letang being 38 and Malkin being 39. Perhaps that reliance on older players — don’t forget about 35-year-old Erik Karlsson, either — also explains why the Pens sit seventh in the Metro and 14th in the East with just 39 points in 36 games, although they do have games in hand on most of the teams above them. The Penguins are part of an eight-team slog separated by just three points, with the teams at the top tied for the second wild card spot in the standings. Pittsburgh remains actively in the playoff chase with the season’s midpoint approaching but there are plenty of other competitors in the vicinity.

If the Hawks’ slump felt miserable, Pittsburgh just ended a worse one, beating the Montreal Canadiens last Sunday night to snap an eight-game losing streak. Pittsburgh lost a few nights later to the Toronto Maple Leafs in its final game prior to the Christmas break and this its first outing on the other side of it.

Crosby still remains the team leader with 38 points (20 G, 18 A) in 36 games followed by Bryan Rust at 30 (13 G, 17 A) in 34. Malkin is third at 29 (8 G, 21 A) in 26 but he’s been out since early December with an injury and remains on the shelf for this game. Karlsson is fourth at 26 (3 G, 23 A) in 36 games, showing that the veterans remain the driving force here. While 18-year-old Benjamin Kindel is holding his own in his rookie season with 14 points (8 G, 6 A) in 33 games after being selected No. 11 overall this summer, any larger youth movement with the Penguins is still yet to come. Kindel was flanked at their Saturday practice by 21-year-old Rutger McGroarty and 22-year-old Ville Koivunen for a kid-heavy third line, but those two players have just three points apiece.

The goaltending options aren’t great in Pittsburgh, either, as the only above average goalie Pittsburgh had — Tristan Jarry — was shipped to Edmonton earlier this month in a trade. With him gone, the net belongs to the subpar duo of Arturs Silovs (5-5-6 record, .887 save percentage, 3.22 goals-against average) and Stuart Skinner (0-3-0, .831, 4.18).

Silovs will handle the net for this one, per their Saturday practice. The rest of the expected lineup is below:

As for the Hawks, Saturday’s victory was much-needed, although the quick turnaround for another game in 24 hours to face a team that’s had four days off won’t give this team the most ideal setup for a pair of victories. With no morning skate ahead of Sunday’s game, there’s no word yet on whether Ilya Mikheyev will re-join the team after missing Saturday’s game so he could attned to the birth of his child. The rest of the lineup will likely look similar to the one that skated in Dallas on Saturday night, save for a change in net, where Spencer Knight is the expected starter after Arvid Soderblom had himself a solid outing against the Stars.

Blackhawks lines in warmups at Stars, with no sign of Mikheyev:

Bertuzzi-Dickinson-Slaggert
Teravainen-Donato-Burakovsky
Moore-Greene-Dach
Lardis-Toninato-Lafferty

Vlasic-Crevier
Grzelcyk-Levshunov
Kaiser-Murphy

Soderblom

— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) December 28, 2025

Now that the Hawks’ lengthy skid is over, it’s time to stack some wins together. This Penguins team hasn’t proven it’s fully recovered from their own long slump in December. Might as well keep them down on the mat.

Let’s go Hawks.

Tale of the Tape

Blackhawks — Statistic — Penguins
46.60% (27th) — 5-on-5 Corsi For — 50.06% (16th)
44.25% (32nd) — 5-on-5 Expected goals for — 50.90% (12th)
2.76 (26th) — Goals per game — 3.03 (t-16th)
3.11 (17th) — Goals against per game — 3.17 (19th)
46.4% (31st) — Faceoffs — 49.9% (16th)
20.0% (15th) — Power play — 29.3% (3rd)
84.5% (4th) — Penalty kill — 81.1% (14th)
(All stats from this season)

How to watch

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