Blackhawks at Stars preview

BLACKHAWKS (17-11-5) at STARS (18-14-3)
8:30 p.m. ET; FW-SW, NBCSCH, NHL.TV

Goaltender Corey Crawford is expected to make his sixth straight start. He hasn't lost in regulation since Nov. 12, a span of 11 games (9-0-2).
Stars coach Ken Hitchcock is one win from 800 in the NHL. He would become the third coach to reach that milestone, joining Scotty Bowman (1,244) and Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville (868).

Players to watch

Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane has seven points (four goals, three assists) during a four-game point streak.
Stars forward Gemel Smith has goals in back-to-back games after being a healthy scratch Dec. 15 against the New Jersey Devils.

They said it

"I'm going to try and get into the game and be ready for the first minute. That's my main goal. Obviously it's not the greatest thing, but now I'm more motivated." -- Blackhawks right wing Richard Panik on getting back into the lineup after being scratched the past three games
"I think you look at the last five games Chicago played, they've scored [18] goals and allowed seven. That gets your attention right there. When you allow seven goals in five games and go 5-0 against tough, tough opponents, it's pretty impressive. Four of the five were playoff teams and they beat some top teams pretty handily, so they've gotten everybody's attention." -- Stars coach Ken Hitchcock

Blackhawks projected lineup

Brandon Saad -- Jonathan Toews -- Alex DeBrincat
Nick Schmaltz -- Artem Anisimov -- Patrick Kane
Ryan Hartman --
Vinnie Hinostroza
-- Richard Panik
Lance Bouma -- Tommy Wingels -- John Hayden
Duncan Keith -- Jordan Oesterle
Michal Kempny -- Brent Seabrook
Gustav Forsling -- Connor Murphy
Corey Crawford
Anton Forsberg
Scratched:Patrick Sharp, Ville Pokka](https://www.nhl.com/player/ville-pokka-8476864)
Injured:Cody Franson (upper body), Michal Rozsival (concussion), Jan Rutta (upper body)

Stars projected lineup

Remi Elie -- Jamie Benn -- Alexander Radulov
Mattias Janmark -- Tyler Seguin -- Devin Shore
Gemel Smith -- Martin Hanzal -- Jason Spezza
Antoine Roussel -- Radek Faksa -- Tyler Pitlick
Esa Lindell -- John Klingberg
Dan Hamhuis -- Greg Pateryn
Stephen Johns -- Julius Honka
Ben Bishop
Kari Lehtonen
Scratched:Brett Ritchie
Injured: Marc Methot](https://www.nhl.com/player/marc-methot-8470760?season=20172018) (knee)

Status report

Sharp will be a healthy scratch for the first time since he played for the Philadelphia Flyers during the 2005-06 season. Quenneville said Rutta and Franson are both close to returning but he's giving them extra time to recover. … Hitchcock said Methot is getting closer to returning but won't play until after the Christmas break; their first game back is at the Minnesota Wild on Dec. 27.

Stat pack

Crawford is 9-0-2 in his past 11 games, and has held opponent to one goal in five of them. … Benn has six points (three goals, three assists) in his past six games. Radulov has three goals in his past four games.