The Blackhawks have a quick stop at the United Center on Tuesday night before another road trip begins later this week, with Jonathan Toews and the Winnipeg Jets visiting 1901 W. Madison this evening. <\/p>\n
When these two teams met four weeks ago in Manitoba \u2014 a 3-2 Jets win in overtime<\/a> \u2014 Winnipeg\u2019s playoff hopes seemed unrealistic, with the Jets then being 10 points out with 23 games remaining and four teams in the way. Time continues to be a dwindling resource but the Jets are making it interesting with a 8-4-2 record over the last 14 games that has them in the conversation at 74 points in 73 games. There are still four teams to leap and Winnipeg now has just nine games remaining but the gap is only three points between it and Nashville (77 points in 74 games). It seems like the teams in this playoff chase \u2014 which also includes Los Angeles (76 in 73), Seattle (75 in 72) and San Jose (75 in 72) \u2014 are all competing for the right to get swept by Colorado in the opening round of the playoffs, but they\u2019re all still very much alive in this race. <\/p>\n Winnipeg\u2019s had some injury issues with depth pieces but the primary scoring threat remains healthy in the trio of Mark Scheifele (89 points in 73 games), Kyle Connor (83 in 73) and Gabe Vilardi (62 in 73). Josh Morrissey is next with 50 points (12 G, 38 A) from the blue line, rejoining the lineup earlier this month after being injured during the Olympics. The next player on the scoresheet is Cole Perfetti with just 30 in 59, so this isn\u2019t exactly an offensive dynamo of a lineup. <\/p>\n The biggest name on this roster in stature \u2014 and spelling! \u2014 remains Connor Hellebuyck, who has had an up-and-down March to match his up-and-down season. His season numbers are closer to average (19-20-11 record, .899 save percentage, 2.80 goals-against average) than his typically good standard. This month alone, he\u2019s stopped 21 of 23 and 28 of 29 in separate victories over the Avalanche but also allowed five goals on 16 shots to the woeful Rangers. <\/p>\n Hellebuyck is starting this game, with the rest of the lineup being pulled from Saturday\u2019s Winnipeg win in Colorado:<\/p>\n Jets lines Connor-Scheifele-Iafallo Morrissey-DeMelo Hellebuyck<\/p>\n \u2014 LinesLinesLines (@CcCMiddleton) March 28, 2026<\/a> <\/p>\n The Jets should also be well-rested, as they\u2019ve been in Chicago since Sunday, allowing The Captain to spend some time on the North Side on Sunday afternoon:<\/p>\n Throwing today\u2019s first pitch at the @Cubs<\/a> game, NUMBER 19 JONATHAN TOEWS \u26be\ufe0f pic.twitter.com\/hcUxJGfD7v<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Winnipeg Jets (@NHLJets) March 29, 2026<\/a> <\/p>\n As for the Hawks, the morning skate brought several news items with it. First, both Matt Grzelcyk<\/a> and Artyom Levshunov<\/a> have been ruled out for the rest of the season due to various injuries. Next, Anton Frondell has switched from No. 15 to No. 16, which drew the approval of a recent Blackhawks forward who wore that number for several seasons and was also teammates with Frondell earlier this season. <\/p>\n Marcus Kr\u00fcger on Anton Frondell wearing his old No. 16 for the Blackhawks. <\/p>\n \u201c(My) kids will like it, don\u2019t have to buy new ones, just change name.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2014 Scott Powers (@scottpowers.bsky.social<\/a>) March 31, 2026 at 12:02 PM<\/a><\/p>\n With those two blue-liners out for the season, Kevin Korchinski seems to be a lineup fixture for the remainder of the NHL season. He was once again skating opposite Del Mastro on the third pairing, as the D pairings and forward lines were largely unchanged from Sunday\u2019s game in New Jersey: <\/p>\n Blackhawks lineup this morning Vlasic-Crevier \u2014 Scott Powers (@scottpowers.bsky.social<\/a>) March 31, 2026 at 10:41 AM<\/a><\/p>\n One noticeable change was on the fourth line, though, where Sam Lafferty will skate in place of Sacha Boisvert. Coach Jeff Blashill offered this reasoning for it:<\/p>\n Jeff Blashill on Sacha Boisvert sitting tonight:<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s not going to play every single game but he\u2019ll play a good number of them. We give him a chance to get a feel for it, then you get a chance to watch it. So those are all good learning experiences. I don\u2019t like sitting guys\u2026<\/p>\n
per @Sportsnet<\/a> broadcast<\/p>\n
Perfetti-Lowry-Vilardi
Koepke-Toews-Lambert
Rosen-Zhilkin-Ford<\/p>\n
Samberg-Pionk
Bryson-Salmonsson<\/p>\n
\nGreene-Bedard-Lardis
\nBertuzzi-Frondell-Mikheyev
\nDonato-Nazar-Burakovsky
\nTeravainen-Lafferty-Slaggert<\/p>\n
\nKaiser-Rinzel
\nKorchinski-Del Mastro<\/p>\n