The Chicago Blackhawks (26-30-12) return to the United Center for the back end of a back-to-back against the Colorado Avalanche (44-13-10) on Friday night. It\u2019s the third and final meeting between the two teams in the 2025-26 season.<\/p>\n
The Avalanche has claimed victory in each of the first two matchups, winning 1-0 in Chicago on Nov. 23 and 3-1 in Denver on Feb. 28. Just 20 days ago, Cale Makar scored twice, including the empty netter, while Gavin Brindley also found the back of the net in the two-goal win. Connor Bedard was responsible for the Blackhawks\u2019 lone tally. Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 14 of 15 shots faced in goal for Colorado.<\/p>\n
Last time out, the Blackhawks earned their first regulation win over the Minnesota Wild since December 2019, winning 2-1 at Grand Casino Arena on Thursday. It was also Chicago\u2019s first regulation win in that building since November 2017. Bedard and Ilya Mikheyev were the two goal scorers in the game, while Spencer Knight stopped 28 of 29 shots in net. The Blackhawks have now earned a point in seven of nine games to begin March.<\/p>\n
Colorado is coming off a 2-1 shootout loss to the Dallas Stars on Wednesday and has dropped four of its last five games. Regardless, the Avalanche are still the top team in the NHL, with 98 points through 67 games this season. However, their lead in the Central Division has narrowed, with the second-place Stars only two points back.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s everything else to note before the puck drops at 7:30 p.m. CT in Chicago.<\/p>\n
Blackhawks Projected Lineup<\/p>\n
Forward Lines<\/p>\n
Ryan Greene \u2014 Connor Bedard \u2013 Andre Burakovsky<\/p>\n
Tyler Bertuzzi \u2014 Frank Nazar \u2014 Teuvo Teravainen<\/p>\n
Andrew Mangiapane \u2014 Ryan Donato \u2014 Ilya Mikheyev<\/p>\n
Nick Lardis \u2014 Landon Slaggert<\/p>\n
Defensive Pairings<\/p>\n
Alex Vlasic-Artyom Levshunov<\/p>\n
Wyatt Kaiser-Sam Rinzel<\/p>\n
Matt Grzelcyk-Louis Crevier<\/p>\n
Ethan Del Mastro<\/p>\n
Scratched<\/p>\n
F \u2014 Sam Lafferty, F \u2014 Dominic Toninato<\/p>\n
Injured<\/p>\n
F \u2014 Oliver Moore (lower body)<\/p>\n
***<\/p>\n
The Blackhawks recalled Dominic Toninato from the Rockford IceHogs on Friday morning. The team did not hold a morning skate, so the forward lines and defensive pairings listed above are from Thursday\u2019s win over the Wild.<\/p>\n
Avalanche Projected Lineup<\/p>\n
Forward Lines<\/p>\n
Valeri Nichushkin \u2014 Nathan MacKinnon \u2014 Martin Necas<\/p>\n
Nazem Kadri \u2014 Brock Nelson \u2014 Nicolas Roy<\/p>\n
Parker Kelly \u2014 Jack Drury \u2014 Joel Kiviranta<\/p>\n
Ivan Ivan \u2014 Gavin Brindley \u2014 Zakhar Bardakov<\/p>\n
Defensive Pairings<\/p>\n
Devon Toews \u2014 Cale Makar<\/p>\n
Josh Manson \u2014 Brent Burns<\/p>\n
Brett Kulak \u2014 Sam Malinski<\/p>\n
Scratched<\/p>\n
F \u2014 Nick Blankenburg<\/p>\n
Injured<\/p>\n
F \u2014 Ross Colton (upper body), F \u2014 Gabriel Landeskog (lower body), F \u2014 Artturi Lehkonen (upper body), F \u2014 Logan O\u2019Connor (hip surgery)<\/p>\n
Projected Goaltending Matchup<\/p>\n
Arvid Soderblom (6-10-3, 3.70 GAA, .876 Sv%, 1 SO) vs. Mackenzie Blackwood (18-8-1, 2.48 GAA, .904 Sv%, 3 SO)<\/p>\n
Soderblom is expected to make his 20th start of the season for the Blackhawks. The 26-year-old allowed four goals on 31 shots faced to record the overtime loss in his most recent start on Mar. 8 against the Dallas Stars. Soderblom has yet to face Colorado in his NHL career.<\/p>\n
Blackwood will make his 28th start of the season for the Avalanche. The 29-year-old allowed two goals on 17 shots faced to earn the loss in his most recent start last Saturday against the Winnipeg Jets. Blackwood is 5-0-2 with a 1.96 GAA and .922 Sv% in seven career starts against Chicago.<\/p>\n
2025-26 Results vs. Avalanche<\/p>\n
Chicago has taken points in four of their last six games against Colorado at the United Center (3-2-1). The Blackhawks have also earned points in seven of their last nine games since March 1 (4-2-3).<\/p>\n
11\/23\/25 \u2014 1-0 L, United Center<\/p>\n
02\/28\/26 \u2014 3-1 L, 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 Connor Bedard & Tyler Bertuzzi (28)<\/p>\n
Assists \u2014 Connor Bedard (37)<\/p>\n
Points \u2014 Connor Bedard (65)<\/p>\n
GF\/GP \u2014 2.60 (29th)<\/p>\n
GA\/GP \u2014 3.13 (22nd)<\/p>\n
PP% \u2014 18.9% (21st)<\/p>\n
PK% \u2014 84.7% (1st)<\/p>\n
FOW% \u2014 46.6% (31st)<\/p>\n
Colorado Avalanche:<\/p>\n
Goals \u2014 Nathan MacKinnon (45)<\/p>\n
Assists \u2014 Nathan MacKinnon (66)<\/p>\n
Points \u2014 Nathan MacKinnon (111)<\/p>\n
GF\/GP \u2014 3.69 (1st)<\/p>\n
GA\/GP \u2014 2.48 (1st)<\/p>\n
PP% \u2014 16.1% (29th)<\/p>\n
PK% \u2014 82.6% (6th)<\/p>\n
FOW% \u2014 51.3% (8th)<\/p>\n
How To Watch, Listen, & Game Info<\/p>\n
Colorado Avalanche (44-13-10, 98 points) @ Chicago Blackhawks (26-30-12, 64 points)<\/p>\n
7:30 p.m. CT \u2014 United Center<\/p>\n
Head Coaches: Jared Bednar (COL), Jeff Blashill (CHI)<\/p>\n
TV\/Stream: CHSN (Ball\/Pang), ALT, KTVD<\/p>\n
Radio: WGN 720 AM (Wiedeman\/Konroyd)<\/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 (26-30-12) return to the United Center for the back end of a back-to-back against the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":516289,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5116],"tags":[193,60145,41637,57452,37717,45621,49202,45780,49204,96,192,144,5277,5,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-516288","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-colorado-avalanche","8":"tag-avalanche","9":"tag-avalanche-how-to-watch","10":"tag-avalanche-lines","11":"tag-avalanche-starting-goalie","12":"tag-blackhawks-game-day","13":"tag-blackhawks-game-day-previews","14":"tag-blackhawks-how-to-watch","15":"tag-blackhawks-lines","16":"tag-blackhawks-starting-goalie","17":"tag-chicago-blackhawks","18":"tag-colorado","19":"tag-colorado-avalanche","20":"tag-coloradoavalanche","21":"tag-hockey","22":"tag-nhl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116271592482401142","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516288","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=516288"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516288\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/516289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=516288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=516288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=516288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}