Avalanche
Notes: The Avs are much stronger, or healthier, at forward than they were the last time the Hawks saw them. Rantanen only played one of the games, and Landeskog neither. They’re both back. Calvert also didn’t play last time. But they’re much more beat up on the blue line, where neither Makar or Johnson are on the trip with them and Girard took a puck to the face Monday in St. Louis…MacKinnon has 34 points in his last 21 games…Kadri scored twice the last time these two met…
Hawks
Notes: That’s right, Seabrook is in his suit tonight, as the Hawks look to go younger. Finally. Sure, doing it for Dennis Gilbert isn’t really a move forward, but this was going to happen when actual promising defensemen are here, or would need to, so might as well get this going. It’s a formation they should get used to, and Seabrook is lucky injuries kept him in the lineup this long…we actually don’t mind “pairing” Dach and DeBrincat, because it gives Dach some actual skill to play with and spreads out the scoring in theory. Strome and Kane still looked dangerous, so it’s worth a look because one of those three lines should get a decent match-up at least…
