Blackhawks at Maple Leafs preview

BLACKHAWKS (30-30-9) at MAPLE LEAFS (42-22-5)
7p.m. ET; NBCSN,SN, TVAS

Goalie Corey Crawford, who is 3-0-0 with a 1.95 goals-against average and .934 save percentage in his past three games, will start for the Blackhawks. Chicago has outscored opponents 13-6 during its three-game winning streak and trail the Arizona Coyotes by six points for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.
Goalie Frederik Andersen will start for the Maple Leafs, who are 6-2-1 in their past nine games but lost 6-2 to the Tampa Bay Lightning at home Monday. Toronto trails the Boston Bruins by four points for second in the Atlantic Division.

Players to watch

Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane has 48 points (19 goals, 29 assists) in his past 27 games.
Maple Leafs center John Tavares has eight points (two goals, six assists) in his past five games. He has matched his NHL single-season high with 38 goals and is two shy of becoming the third player in Maple Leafs history to score 40 goals in his first season with the team, joining Eddie Olczyk (42 in 1987-88) and Auston Matthews (40 in 2016-17).

They said it

"We dug a hole early on in the first half of the season, but we've been battling here to stay in the mix and we've had a pretty good run lately. We fully respect the team we're playing tonight, and we know they're going to be a big test. But we should feel confident we can get points in a game we very much need." -- Blackhawks coach Jeremy Colliton
"You never want to lose and you never want to lose like that, so I think everybody was frustrated. We learned from it. [We had a] good day off yesterday, and tonight will be a good test for us against a team that's been playing well lately." -- Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews on bouncing back after the loss to the Lightning

Blackhawks projected lineup

Brandon Saad -- Jonathan Toews -- Dylan Sikura
Dominik Kahun -- Artem Anisimov -- Patrick Kane
Alex DeBrincat -- Dylan Strome -- Brendan Perlini
Chris Kunitz -- David Kampf -- Marcus Kruger
Duncan Keith - Erik Gustafsson
Carl Dahlstrom -- Connor Murphy
Gustav Forsling -- Brent Seabrook
Corey Crawford
Collin Delia
Scratched:John Hayden, Slater Koekkoek
Injured:Drake Caggiula (concussion), Cam Ward (knee)

Maple Leafs projected lineup

Andreas Johnsson -- Auston Matthews -- William Nylander
Zach Hyman -- John Tavares -- Mitchell Marner
Patrick Marleau -- Nazem Kadri -- Connor Brown
Tyler Ennis -- Frederik Gauthier --
Trevor Moore
Morgan Rielly -- Ron Hainsey
Jake Muzzin -- Nikita Zaitsev
Martin Marincin -- Igor Ozhiganov
Frederik Andersen
Garret Sparks
Scratched:Nic Petan, Justin Holl
Injured:Jake Gardiner (back), Travis Dermott (shoulder), Kasperi Kapanen (concussion)

Status report

Ward took part in the morning skate but is not expected to dress. … Kapanen, who missed Toronto's game Monday with an illness, has been diagnosed with a concussion. There is no timetable for his return.

Stat pack

DeBrincat has four points (one goal, three assists) in his past four games. ... Perlini has four goals in his past three games. ... Toews has five points (one goal, four assists) in his past four games. … Marner has gone two games without a point since his five-game point streak ended (11 points, three goals, eight assists). ,,, Matthews will play his 200th NHL game.