The Blackhawks look to continue their unbeaten start to 2026 on Friday night at the United Center against the Washington Capitals.

Let’s start with the home team this evening because there’s important news to share:

Connor Bedard says he’s ready to go.

— Scott Powers (@scottpowers.bsky.social) January 9, 2026 at 10:55 AM

While Bedard is back — and he was practicing with the top power-play unit, as one would expect — several other players (along with coach Jeff Blashill) were not present at the morning skate due to an illness floating around the team in the moment.

There’s a flu bug going around the Blackhawks. They expect to know the status of Söderblom, Foligno and Mikheyev later today for tonight’s game.

— Scott Powers (@scottpowers.bsky.social) January 9, 2026 at 11:23 AM

Those absences meant there were no line combos to report from the morning skate and the team did not practice on Thursday, either, so the lineup is anyone’s guess at this point. The goalie situation is in flux, too, which meant a folk hero from the team’s recent past is back again:

No Arvid Soderblom, so Scott Foster is taking his place. Some legends never die.

— Greg Boysen (@gregboysen.bsky.social) January 9, 2026 at 10:33 AM

Since losing to the Hawks last Saturday, Washington’s beat the Anaheim Ducks 7-4 — which everyone seems to do recently — and lost 4-1 to the Dallas Stars. The latter of those two games was on Wednesday, so no heavy legs to report for the Capitals ahead of this one. There haven’t been too many changes for the Capitals since these teams met in Washington six days ago, so we’ll just point everyone in the direction of the preview for that game. One of the changes is because of that prior game, though, which saw Tom Wilson exit early with an injury. Although the injury was not as bad as it initially looked, he’s still not expected to play in this game:

Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said it’s unlikely Tom Wilson (lower body) plays in Chicago tomorrow because he’s yet to be cleared for contact or practice with team, but didn’t rule out him playing in the trip finale in Nashville on Sunday.

— Tom Gulitti (@tomgulittinhl.bsky.social) January 8, 2026 at 11:18 AM

Aliaksei Protas, who didn’t play in the prior meeting between these teams and has remained sidelined since, appears closer to a reurn for Washington but there was no official word on his potential return as of this afternoon. His return could change things but, otherwise, here was the Capitals lineup from that game against Dallas:

Capitals in warmup:

Ovechkin-Strome-Beauvillier
McMichael-Sourdif-Leonard
Duhaime-Dowd-Frank
Milano-Leonard-Leason

Fehervary-Carlson
Chychrun-Roy
Sandin-McIlrath

Thompson (vs. DeSmith)

— Tom Gulitti (@tomgulittinhl.bsky.social) January 7, 2026 at 5:34 PM

One other possible thing to watch: the Bulls were supposed to play at the UC on Thursday night but issues with the playing surface led to that game being postponed. However, the Hawks have said there will be no such issues with this game. But ice quality could be something to keep an eye on during this game.

[UPDATE] The Blackhawks have officially activated Bedard from injured reserve and called up two other players, which may be a cautionary measure given the aforementioned illness circulating within the team:

The Blackhawks have activated Connor Bedard, as well as recalled Kevin Korchinski and Drew Commesso.

— Greg Boysen (@gregboysen.bsky.social) January 9, 2026 at 1:37 PM

Bedard’s back and the team’s been playing significantly better in the last few weeks despite his absence. No reason why things shouldn’t get better from here, eh?

Let’s go Hawks.

Tale of the Tape

Blackhawks — Statistic — Capitals
47.52% (26th) — 5-on-5 Corsi For — 51.13% (11th)
45.58% (30th) — 5-on-5 Expected goals for — 51.50% (9th)
2.86 (t-22nd) — Goals per game —3.25 (t-9th)
3.12 (t-18th) — Goals against per game — 2.82 (9th)
46.9% (28th) — Faceoffs — 49.4% (t-20th)
23.0% (t-8th) — Power play — 15.3% (30th)
84.4% (4th) — Penalty kill — 77.2% (t-22nd)
(All stats from this season)

How to watch

When: 7 p.m. CT
Where: United Center, Chicago
TV: CHSN, NHL Network
Webstream: ESPN+/Hulu (However, the NHL Network broadcast may lead to a blackout here)
Radio: WGN 720