Blackhawks at Flames preview

BLACKHAWKS (25-24-8) at FLAMES (30-23-6)
10 p.m. ET; CBC, SN, SN360, CITY, NBCSCH, NHL.TV

Chicago, which is 0-3-2 in its past five games and has one win in the past seven (1-4-2) after a five-game winning streak, trails the Arizona Coyotes by six points for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference, with three games in hand.
Calgary, which is 3-1-0 in its past four games after one win in the previous six (1-4-1), has the first wild card from the west and trails the Vancouver Canucks by three points for first in the Pacific Division.

Players to watch

Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane has 22 points (five goals, 17 assists) in his past 17 games.
Flames forward Elias Lindholm has 10 points (five goals, five assists) in a nine-game point streak.

They said it

"Luckily the teams around us have lost as well. We're still right there in the mix. Six points out. Three games at hand on that last wild card team. Obviously, points are available. We're not out of it by any means." -- Blackhawks forward Dylan Strome
"At the end of the day we've got to control what we can control. Tonight, we've got a big opportunity to create more gap in the standings and get back inside that top three again. We've got to take every game like it's a do-or-die game this time of year." -- Flames defenseman Noah Hanifin

Blackhawks projected lineup

Dominik Kubalik -- Jonathan Toews -- Drake Caggiula
Brandon Saad -- Ryan Carpenter -- Patrick Kane
Alex DeBrincat -- Kirby Dach -- Dylan Strome
Matthew Highmore -- David Kampf -- Alex Nylander
Duncan Keith -- Erik Gustafsson
Adam Boqvist -- Connor Murphy
Slater Koekkoek -- Olli Maatta
Robin Lehner
Corey Crawford
Scratched: Nick Seeler
Injured: Andrew Shaw (concussion), Zack Smith (hand), Brent Seabrook (shoulder), Calvin de Haan (shoulder)

Flames projected lineup

Johnny Gaudreau -- Sean Monahan -- Elias Lindholm
Andrew Mangiapane -- Mikael Backlund -- Matthew Tkachuk
Milan Lucic -- Sam Bennett -- Dillon Dube
Zac Rinaldo -- Mark Jankowski -- Tobias Rieder
Noah Hanifin -- Rasmus Andersson
TJ Brodie -- Michael Stone
Oliver Kylington -- Brandon Davidson
David Rittich
Cam Talbot
Scratched: Buddy Robinson, Alexander Yelesin
Injured: Derek Ryan (illness), Mark Giordano (hamstring), Travis Hamonic (upper body)

Status report

Highmore will play in place of Smith, who will miss 7-10 days with a left-hand injury sustained in a 3-0 loss to the Canucks on Wednesday.

Stat pack

Keith needs one goal for 100, one assist for 500, and two points for 600 in the NHL. … Backlund has eight points (four goals, four assists) in a five-game point streak and has scored at least one goal in three straight games. … Tkachuk has five points (two goals, three assists) in a five-game point streak.