Blackhawks at Avalanche preview

BLACKHAWKS (12-19-6) at AVALANCHE (19-10-6)
9 p.m. ET; ESPN+, ALT, SN360, NBCCH+, NHL.TV

Colin Delia will make his NHL season debut starting in goal for Chicago. He was 1-1-0 with a 3.96 goals-against average and an .889 save percentage in two starts for the Blackhawks last season.
Philipp Grubauer will make his second straight start for the Avalanche, who are 2-1-0 entering the finale of a four-game homestand. Grubauer is 8-0-3 in his past 11 starts. He made 35 saves Wednesday in a 2-1 win against the Montreal Canadiens.

Players to watch

Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane has two goals and three assists during a three-game point streak. He leads Chicago in scoring with 42 points (17 goals, 25 assists).
Avalanche forward Mikko Rantanen leads the NHL in scoring (58 points) and assists (42). He has 29 points (nine goals, 20 assists) in his past 16 games.

They said it

"I think we're playing better, but when the results aren't there it gets old making that case, even if you do believe it. It's nice for the team, nice for the mood to get a little positive reinforcement. Hopefully that gives us the energy, the motivation, to keep going." - Blackhawks coach Jeremy Colliton
"It's a big couple points for us on the table again. Our homestand has just been OK so far. We've got to try and repeat our performance and improve on our performance from [Wednesday]." -- Avalanche coach Jared Bednar

Blackhawks projected lineup

Brandon Saad -- Jonathan Toews -- Dominik Kahun
Dylan Strome -- Artem Anisimov -- Patrick Kane
Alex DeBrincat -- David Kampf -- Dylan Sikura
John Hayden --
Luke Johnson
-- Brendan Perlini
Duncan Keith -- Erik Gustafsson
Gustav Forsling -- Brent Seabrook
Carl Dahlstrom -- Connor Murphy
Colin Delia
Cam Ward
Scratched:Chris Kunitz, Brandon Manning, Andreas Martinsen
Injured:Corey Crawford (concussion), Brandon Davidson (leg), Marcus Kruger (concussion)

Avalanche projected lineup

Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen
Alex Kerfoot -- J.T. Compher -- Colin Wilson
Matt Nieto -- Carl Soderberg -- Matt Calvert
Gabriel Bourque -- Tyson Jost -- Sven Andrighetto
Samuel Girard -- Erik Johnson
Ian Cole -- Tyson Barrie
Anton Lindholm
-- Patrik Nemeth
Philipp Grubauer
Semyon Varlamov
Scratched:Sheldon Dries
Injured:Mark Barberio (upper body), Vladislav Kamenev (shoulder), Nikita Zadorov (lower body)

Status report

The Blackhawks didn't have a morning skate … Lindholm was recalled from Colorado of the American Hockey League to replace Zadorov, who also won't play Saturday against the Arizona Coyotes.

Stat pack

Toews has 10 points (five goals, five assists) in his past 10 games. He needs three assists for 400 in his NHL career … MacKinnon has two goals and 10 assists during a seven-game point streak and is second in the NHL in scoring with 55 points (21 goals, 34 assists).