The Chicago Blackhawks (22-27-9) continue their four-game road trip out of the Olympic break against the Colorado Avalanche (38-10-9) at Ball Arena on Saturday. It\u2019s the second of three matchups between the Blackhawks and Avalanche in the 2025-26 season.<\/p>\n
In the first meeting on Nov. 23 at the United Center, Scott Wedgewood backstopped Colorado to a 1-0 shutout win, stopping all 22 shots faced. Canadian Olympian Cale Makar scored the lone tally late in the second period for the game-winning goal. Spencer Knight stopped 25 of 26 shots for Chicago in defeat.<\/p>\n
Last time out, the Blackhawks dropped their first game in 22 days, falling 4-2 to the Nashville Predators on Thursday. Connor Bedard and Tyler Bertuzzi (PP) recorded the Blackhawks two goals, giving the team a 2-1 lead early in the third period. But the Predators stormed back with three unanswered goals, scored by Matthew Wood (PP), Ryan O\u2019Reilly, and Steven Stamkos, to steal the win. Dating back to Jan. 12, the Blackhawks have now dropped 10 of their last 13 games and sit 10 points back of the Seattle Kraken for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.<\/p>\n
The Avalanche have split their first two games back from the Olympic break, defeating the Utah Mammoth 4-2 on Wednesday and losing 5-2 to the Minnesota Wild on Thursday. Superstar Nathan MacKinnon didn\u2019t play in Wednesday\u2019s win over Utah, but he did return against the Wild and recorded two assists in the loss. Martin Necas tallied both goals for Colorado and has three points in the last two games.<\/p>\n
Colorado still holds the top spot in the NHL standings, having won 38 of 57 games so far this season for 85 points. The Avs have a five-point cushion over the Wild, who sit in second place, but have played three more games.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s everything else to note before the puck drops at 5:00 p.m. CT in Nashville.<\/p>\n
Blackhawks Projected Lineup<\/p>\n
Forward Lines<\/p>\n
Ryan Greene \u2014 Connor Bedard \u2013 Andre Burakovsky<\/p>\n
Oliver Moore \u2014 Frank Nazar \u2014 Teuvo Teravainen<\/p>\n
Tyler Bertuzzi \u2014 Jason Dickinson \u2014 Ilya Mikheyev<\/p>\n
Ryan Donato \u2014 Nick Foligno \u2014 Landon Slaggert<\/p>\n
Defensive Pairings<\/p>\n
Alex Vlasic-Louis Crevier<\/p>\n
Matt Grzelcyk-Artyom Levshunov<\/p>\n
Connor Murphy-Sam Rinzel<\/p>\n
Scratched<\/p>\n
F \u2014 Colton Dach, D \u2014 Kevin Korchinski, F \u2014 Sam Lafferty<\/p>\n
Injured<\/p>\n
D \u2014 Wyatt Kaiser (lower body)<\/p>\n
***<\/p>\n
The Blackhawks did not hold a morning skate, but they did practice in Denver on Friday.<\/p>\n
During line rushes at practice, Teuvo Teravainen moved back to the second line in place of Tyler Bertuzzi. Bertuzzi joined the third line with Jason Dickinson and Ilya Mikheyev. Ryan Donato was bumped down to Teravainen\u2019s fourth-line spot with captain Nick Foligno and Landon Slaggert.<\/p>\n
Colton Dach, Sam Lafferty, and Kevin Korchinski are expected to be the healthy scratches for the second consecutive game.<\/p>\n
Avalanche Projected Lineup<\/p>\n
Forward Lines<\/p>\n
Gabriel Landeskog \u2014 Nathan MacKinnon \u2014 Martin Necas<\/p>\n
Artturi Lehkonen \u2014 Brock Nelson \u2014 Valeri Nichushkin<\/p>\n
Ross Colton \u2014 Jack Drury \u2014 Victor Olofsson<\/p>\n
Parker Kelly \u2014 Zakhar Bardakov \u2014 Gavin Brindley<\/p>\n
Defensive Pairings<\/p>\n
Devon Toews-Cale Makar<\/p>\n
Josh Manson-Brent Burns<\/p>\n
Brett Kulak-Sam Malinski<\/p>\n
Scratched<\/p>\n
None<\/p>\n
Injured<\/p>\n
F \u2014 Joel Kiviranta (undisclosed), F \u2014 Logan O\u2019Connor (hip surgery)<\/p>\n
Projected Goaltending Matchup<\/p>\n
Spencer Knight (16-17-7, 2.63 GAA, .907 Sv%, 3 SO) vs. Mackenzie Blackwood (16-6-1, 2.28 GAA, .916 sv%, 3 SO)<\/p>\n
Knight is expected to make his 41st start of the season for the Blackhawks. The 24-year-old allowed three goals on 25 shots faced to earn the loss in his most recent start on Thursday. Knight is 0-2-1 with a 1.65 GAA and .935 Sv% in three career games against Colorado.<\/p>\n
Blackwood is expected to make his 23rd start of the season for the Avalanche. The 29-year-old netminder allowed three goals on 34 shots to earn the loss in his last start on Thursday. Blackwood is 4-0-2 with a 2.11 GAA and .921 Sv% in six career games against Chicago.<\/p>\n
2025-26 Results vs. Avalanche<\/p>\n
Chicago has taken points in three of their last five games against the Avalanche (2-2-1).<\/p>\n
11\/23\/25 \u2014 1-0 L, United Center<\/p>\n
02\/28\/26 \u2014 Ball Arena<\/p>\n
03\/20\/26 \u2014 United Center<\/p>\n
2025-26 Team Stats & Leaders<\/p>\n
Chicago Blackhawks:<\/p>\n
Goals \u2014 Tyler Bertuzzi (26)<\/p>\n
Assists \u2014 Connor Bedard (30)<\/p>\n
Points \u2014 Connor Bedard (54)<\/p>\n
GF\/GP \u2014 2.64 (26th)<\/p>\n
GA\/GP \u2014 3.17 (22nd)<\/p>\n
PP% \u2014 19.2% (21st)<\/p>\n
PK% \u2014 85.2% (1st)<\/p>\n
FOW% \u2014 47.1% (29th)<\/p>\n
Colorado Avalanche:<\/p>\n
Goals \u2014 Nathan MacKinnon (40)<\/p>\n
Assists \u2014 Nathan MacKinnon (55)<\/p>\n
Points \u2014 Nathan MacKinnon (95)<\/p>\n
GF\/GP \u2014 3.81 (1st)<\/p>\n
GA\/GP \u2014 2.46 (1st)<\/p>\n
PP% \u2014 15.1% (32nd)<\/p>\n
PK% \u2014 83.9% (3rd)<\/p>\n
FOW% \u2014 51.2% (9th)<\/p>\n
How To Watch, Listen, & Game Info<\/p>\n
Chicago Blackhawks (22-27-9, 53 points) @ Colorado Avalanche (38-10-9, 85 points)<\/p>\n
5:00 p.m. CT \u2014 Ball Arena<\/p>\n
Head Coaches: Jeff Blashill (CHI), Jared Bednar (COL)<\/p>\n
TV\/Stream: CHSN (Ball\/Granato), ALT<\/p>\n
Radio: WGN 720 AM (Grey\/Chelios)<\/p>\n
For more Blackhawks news, visit Chicago Hockey Now<\/a> and like our Facebook Page<\/a>.<\/p>\n Follow us on X:<\/p>\n @chihockeynow<\/a>, @JackBushman2<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Chicago Blackhawks (22-27-9) continue their four-game road trip out of the Olympic break against the Colorado Avalanche…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":477436,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5115],"tags":[41637,57452,521,37717,45621,49202,45780,49204,37,96,5263,144,58,5,4],"class_list":["post-477435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago-blackhawks","tag-avalanche-lines","tag-avalanche-starting-goalie","tag-blackhawks","tag-blackhawks-game-day","tag-blackhawks-game-day-previews","tag-blackhawks-how-to-watch","tag-blackhawks-lines","tag-blackhawks-starting-goalie","tag-chicago","tag-chicago-blackhawks","tag-chicagoblackhawks","tag-colorado-avalanche","tag-featured","tag-hockey","tag-nhl"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116149577684864465","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=477435"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477435\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/477436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=477435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=477435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=477435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}