Blackhawks at Canucks preview

BLACKHAWKS (25-23-8) at CANUCKS (31-21-5)
10:30 p.m. ET; ESPN+, SN, SN360, NBCSCH, NHL.TV

Goalie Jacob Markstrom will make his fifth straight start for the Canucks, who ended a four-game winless streak (0-3-1) with a 6-2 win against the Nashville Predators on Monday. Vancouver leads the Edmonton Oilers by one point for first place in the division.
The Canucks will play their second game without forward Brock Boeser, whose upper-body injury will be reassessed before Vancouver's next game, against the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday.
The Blackhawks will try to avoid a five-game winless streak, which would be their longest this season; Chicago is 0-2-2 in its past four games and 1-3-2 in its past six following a five-game winning streak.
The Blackhawks are six points behind the Arizona Coyotes for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.

Players to watch

Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane has 22 points (five goals, 17 assists) in his past 16 games.
Canucks defenseman Quinn Hughes has 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in his past seven games and leads NHL rookies with 44 points (eight goals, 36 assists).

They said it

"I believe in the guys we have that we're good enough to string results together, but we've got to find a way to be more consistent within the game and within periods and shift to shift." -- Blackhawks coach Jeremy Colliton
"It's a big game tonight for sure. We've got to bring it like we did last game, because last game we skated, we worked hard and that was what brought us success." -- Canucks center Elias Pettersson

Blackhawks projected lineup

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

Canucks projected lineup

J.T. Miller -- Bo Horvat -- Zack MacEwen
Tanner Pearson -- Elias Pettersson -- Jake Virtanen
Antoine Roussel -- Adam Gaudette -- Brandon Sutter
Justin Bailey -- Jay Beagle -- Loui Eriksson
Quinn Hughes -- Chris Tanev
Alexander Edler -- Troy Stecher
Jordie Benn -- Tyler Myers
Jacob Markstrom
Thatcher Demko
Scratched:Guillaume Brisebois, Tim Schaller
Injured:Brock Boeser (upper body), Oscar Fantenberg (concussion), Tyler Motte (upper body), Josh Leivo (kneecap), Micheal Ferland (concussion symptoms), Tyler Graovac (lower body)

Status report

The Blackhawks did not hold a morning skate but could dress Strome, a forward, who was a healthy scratch for the first time this season in a 5-3 loss at the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday. … Ferland, a forward who has missed 42 of the past 44 games, was sent to Utica of the American Hockey League for conditioning Tuesday.

Stat pack

Saad has eight points (six goals, two assists) in eight games since returning from an ankle injury. … Miller has 16 points (seven goals, nine assists) in his past 13 games.