Welp… yesterday’s game sure was something. Despite the loss, the boys shouldn’t get too hung up on it – they took the best team in the NHL to the wire while missing our best player and fighting some “interesting” calls by the refs. At any rate, they certainly can’t afford to dwell on it as they host Connor Bedard and the rest of the Blackhawks tonight.
Game Time: 7:00pm at Little Caesar’s Arena
How To Watch: BSDETX, 97.1 The Ticket
Scout The Enemy: Second City Hockey
Expected Rosters:
Lines will most likely be the same as yesterday’s game, with Lyon expected in net. Also of note…
In case that full text isn’t coming thru from the tweets, the language direct from the CBA under 16.12 (a) is:
Upon approval of the Commissioner, a Player who is unable to play due to reasons other than injury, illness or disability (e.g., birth of a child, attending a funeral) will be designated a Non-Roster Player, and during such period of his designation as such he will not count against the Club’s Active Roster limit and his Club may replace such Player, provided, however, that the Non-Roster Player’s Player Salary and Bonuses and his replacement’s Player Salary and Bonuses are each included in calculating a Club’s Actual Club Salary and Averaged Club Salary, and the Player’s Share, for the purposes of Article 50.
https://cdn.nhlpa.com/img/assets/file/NHL_NHLPA_2013_CBA.pdf
It’s a long way of saying you can stash someone and replace them when life gets in the way of hockey as long as you have the cap room. But this confirms that it’s not illness keeping Larkin out, and I hope whatever is going on in his personal life resolves quickly with the best results possible.
There’s also no update on Gostisbehere yet after he got pulled in the 3rd, but that might just mean we roll 12/6 instead of 11/7.
Keys To The Game
Contain Bedard. With the departures of Taylor Hall (surgery) and Corey Perry (use your imagination), who else do the Blackhawks actually have on their roster? Can you name someone without looking it up? Including Bedard, they have 4 players with 10 points or more. We have 8. Control the rookie and you control their team.
Be A Goldfish. Forget last night. It was a good effort but also one of those games where you feel like there’s a narrative being pushed. From behind. Into the boards. Anyway… forget it. That was 24 hours and 600 miles away. Tonight is a new game and a new chance for 2 points in the standings. Go get it.
LGRW
UPDATE: Per Bob Duff, Lyon will get the nod tonight.
Per Daniella, Gostisbehere is skating in warmups. I’d expect him to play.
