Blackhawks at Senators preview

BLACKHAWKS (20-15-6) at SENATORS (14-17-9)
7:30 p.m. ET; TSN5, RDS, NBCSCH, NHL.TV

Seabrook, who has won the Stanley Cup three times with Chicago, missed four games in the previous four seasons, and has played all 82 games in five of his nine full seasons in the NHL. Defenseman Connor Murphy is expected to go into the lineup in Seabrook's place.
The Blackhawks have alternated wins and losses for their past six games (3-2-1). Anton Forsberg will start in goal for Chicago.
The Senators will try to win three games in a row for the second time this season. They won three straight Oct. 10-14.
Craig Anderson will get his third straight start in net for Ottawa (2-0-1).

Players to watch

Blackhawks center Nick Schmaltz has eight points (four goals, four assists) in his past six games.
Senators forward Mark Stone has six points (two goals, four assists) in his past two games.

They said it

"We've had eight defensemen all year and six of them have missed games. It seems like every game when we measure performance and contributions, some guys aren't deserving when they do sit out. It was something with his experience and all that, I just felt, we felt, the other guys were deserving of playing tonight's game and we think it's a very limited experience for him tonight." -- Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville on making defenseman Brent Seabrook a healthy scratch
"When we've been winning we've been scoring a lot of goals and I don't think that's something we can rely on every game. Tonight, I think we're going to have to have a great defensive game." -- Senators captain Erik Karlsson

Blackhawks projected lineup

Brandon Saad -- Jonathan Toews -- Vinnie Hinostroza
Ryan Hartman -- Nick Schmaltz -- Patrick Kane
Patrick Sharp -- David Kampf -- Alex DeBrincat
Lance Bouma -- Tommy Wingels -- Richard Panik
Duncan Keith -- Jordan Oesterle
Michal Kempny -- Connor Murphy
Gustav Forsling -- Jan Rutta
Anton Forsberg
Jeff Glass
Scratched: Brent Seabrook, Tomas Jurco
Injured: Corey Crawford (upper body), Artem Anisimov (upper body), Michal Rozsival (upper body)

Senators projected lineup

Mike Hoffman -- Matt Duchene -- Bobby Ryan
Ryan Dzingel -- Derick Brassard -- Mark Stone
Gabriel Dumont -- Jean-Gabriel Pageau -- Zack Smith
Tom Pyatt -- Colin White -- Alexandre Burrows
Thomas Chabot -- Erik Karlsson
Dion Phaneuf -- Cody Ceci
Ben Harpur -- Fredrik Claesson
Craig Anderson
Mike Condon
Scratched: Mark Borowiecki
Injured: Johnny Oduya (lower body), Nate Thompson (lower body), Chris Wideman (hamstring)

Status report

The Blackhawks assigned defenseman Cody Franson to Rockford of the American Hockey League and called up defenseman Erik Gustafsson on Tuesday. … Duchene (flu) will be a game-time decision. If he can't play, Borowiecki, who is ready to return after missing 21 games with a concussion, will play, and the Senators will dress seven defensemen and 11 forwards.

Stat pack

Hinostroza has seven points (two goals, five assists) during a five-game point streak. … Karlsson has seven assists in his past five games.