Blackhawks at Bruins preview

BLACKHAWKS (23-24-9) at BRUINS (31-17-8)
7 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SNE, SNO, SNP, TVAS, NESN, NBCSCH, NHL.TV

The forward has 31 points (11 goals, 21 assists) in a 14-game point streak, the longest active in the NHL. He also has a 13-game assist streak and can tie Stan Mikita (14 games, Nov. 26-Dec. 25, 1967) for the longest in Blackhawks history.
Chicago's winning streak is its longest since it won seven straight from Feb. 19-March 4, 2017. The Blackhawks trail the Minnesota Wild by four points for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.
Forward David Pastrnak will be out at least two weeks because of thumb surgery for the Bruins, who have won two straight and will try to extend their seven-game point streak (4-0-3). Boston is in third place in the Atlantic Division, one point behind the Toronto Maple Leafs and one point ahead of the Montreal Canadiens.

Players to watch

Blackhawks center Jonathan Toews has 14 points (seven goals, seven assists) in a seven-game point streak.
Bruins forward Brad Marchand has eight points (two goals, six assists) in a four-game multipoint streak.

They said it

"As a coaching staff we're enjoying the wins and you suffer through the losses, but we've got to make sure the group doesn't get too high or too low. We have to approach the game with the right mentality every night." -- Blackhawks coach Jeremy Colliton
"So someone else will have to step in … We don't expect any one player to deliver what [Pastrnak] has to this point or could going forward, but we'll look at different people in there that have had some level of success, see if they can fill some of the void." -- Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy on playing without forward David Pastrnak

Blackhawks projected lineup

Drake Caggiula -- Jonathan Toews -- Patrick Kane
Alex DeBrincat -- Dylan Strome -- Dominik Kahun
Brandon Saad -- Marcus Kruger -- Brendan Perlini
John Hayden -- Artem Anisimov -- Dylan Sikura
Duncan Keith - Brent Seabrook
Carl Dahlstrom - Connor Murphy
Gustav Forsling -- Erik Gustafsson
Collin Delia
Cam Ward
Scratched: Chris Kunitz, Slater Koekkoek
Injured:Corey Crawford (concussion), David Kampf (right foot)

Bruins projected lineup

Brad Marchand -- Patrice Bergeron -- Danton Heinen
Peter Cehlarik -- David Krejci -- Jake DeBrusk
Sean Kuraly -- Noel Acciari -- Chris Wagner
Joakim Nordstrom -- Trent Frederic -- David Backes
Zdeno Chara -- Charlie McAvoy
Torey Krug -- Kevan Miller
John Moore -- Brandon Carlo
Tuukka Rask
Jaroslav Halak
Scratched: None
Injured: Matt Grzelcyk (lower body), David Pastrnak (thumb)

Status report

The Blackhawks held an optional morning skate. … Sikura, recalled from Rockford of the American Hockey League on Monday, will replace Kunitz, who is one game from 1,000 in his NHL career. … Backes will replace Pastrnak, who will be re-evaluated in two weeks.

Stat pack

DeBrincat has 15 points (five goals, 10 assists) in an eight-game point streak. … Saad is one point from 300 in the NHL. … Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy will go for his 100th win with Boston. … Rask is 9-0-2 with a 1.83 goals-against average, .938 save percentage and two shutouts in his past 12 starts.