Blackhawks at Senators preview

BLACKHAWKS (20-20-6) at SENATORS (16-22-7)
7:30 p.m. ET; TSN5, RDS, NBCSCH, NHL.TV

The Senators were 2-5-5 during the defenseman's absence. They are winless in their past seven games (0-4-3).
Goaltender Marcus Hogberg will make his third consecutive start for the Senators. Robin Lehner will start for the Blackhawks, who are 1-2-0 in their past three games after going 4-1-0 in their previous five.
Blackhawks forward Zack Smith will return to Ottawa for the first time since being traded by the Senators to Chicago on July 16, 2019 in exchange for forward Artem Anisimov.

Players to watch

Lehner is 7-0-3 with a 1.83 goals-against average and .941 save percentage in 13 games against the Senators.
Hogberg is 1-2-4 with a .901 save percentage in seven starts this season.

They said it

"It's strange coming back and being on the other side in the rink, dressing in the visitor's [locker room]. I've been looking forward to this for a while. My first trip back to the city since the trade, so it's nice to get back and see a lot of familiar faces, people I've gotten to know and spend a lot of time with over the years. It's pretty special." -- Blackhawks forward Zack Smith on returning to Ottawa
"Anytime you're down numbers, you're down guys, it's going to affect you. There's going to be certain guys trying to pick up the slack a little more, you may be given extra minutes and, in turn, it can kind of affect team structure, too. … We battled hard, we did our best with what we had, and now is a chance to climb back up a little." -- Senators defenseman Mark Borowiecki on having a healthy defense corps for the first time since Dec. 11

Blackhawks projected lineup

Dominik Kubalik -- Jonathan Toews -- Dylan Sikura
Alex DeBrincat -- Kirby Dach -- David Kampf
Alex Nylander -- Ryan Carpenter -- Patrick Kane
Matthew Highmore -- Zack Smith -- Drake Caggiula
Duncan Keith -- Adam Boqvist
Erik Gustafsson -- Connor Murphy
Olli Maatta -- Slater Koekkoek
Robin Lehner
Corey Crawford
Scratched: Dennis Gilbert
Injured: Calvin de Haan (right shoulder), Brandon Saad (right ankle), Brent Seabrook (right shoulder/left and right hip), Andrew Shaw (concussion protocol), Dylan Strome (right ankle)

Senators projected lineup

Brady Tkachuk -- Jean-Gabriel Pageau -- Connor Brown
Anthony Duclair -- Chris Tierney -- Drake Batherson
Filip Chlapik -- Colin White -- Tyler Ennis
Vladislav Namestnikov -- Artem Anisimov -- Rudolfs Balcers
Thomas Chabot -- Ron Hainsey
Mark Borowiecki -- Nikita Zaitsev
Mike Reilly - Dylan DeMelo
Marcus Hogberg
Craig Anderson
Scratched: Mikkel Boedker, Scott Sabourin, Cody Goloubef
Injured: Anders Nilsson (concussion), Nicholas Paul (ankle)

Status report

Blackhawks forward
John Quenneville
was assigned to Rockford of the American Hockey League because if he played one more NHL game this season, he'd become waiver-eligible, coach Jeremy Colliton said. … Senators defenseman Andreas Englund cleared waivers and was assigned to Belleville of the AHL.

Stat pack

Kane has 10 points (four goals, six assists) during a six-game point streak. … The Senators have the worst power play in the League with a success rate of 11.4 percent.