Landeskog will be replaced by Matt Nieto at left wing with MacKinnon at center and Rantanen at right wing. The Avalanche captain will move to the second line with center Alex Kerfoot and right wing J.T. Compher. Goalie Collin Delia will start for the Blackhawks after making 46 saves Thursday in a 5-2 win against the Minnesota Wild. He had 35 saves in his season debut, a 2-1 win against Colorado, on Dec. 21. Chicago is 4-1-0 in the past five games.
Players to watch
Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane has 10 points (five goals, five assists) in a six-game point streak and 17 points (seven goals, 10 assists) in the past 12 games. Avalanche forward Mikko Rantanen has 31 points (nine goals, 22 assists) in the past 19 games. He's second in NHL scoring with 60 points (16 goals, 44 assists) to Tampa Bay Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov, who has 61 points (17 goals, 44 assists). Rantanen and Kucherov are tied for the League assists lead.
They said it
"We're making some progress. Everyone knows where we are, but you can only win one game at a time so that's how you have to focus. What's important right now is what's in front of us, so we have to put all of our energy into that." -- Blackhawks coach Jeremy Colliton "We need to get on the right side of things again. Whenever you're going through something like this and you're not getting the results, you have to find a way to get your swagger back and your mojo back." -- Avalanche forward Gabriel Landeskog
Kruger will play after missing four games with a concussion. Forward Jacob Nilsson was assigned to Rockford of the American Hockey League.
Stat pack
DeBrincat has six points (three goals, three assists) in a four-game point streak … MacKinnon has 14 points (three goals, 11 assists) in the past 10 games.
