Blackhawks at Jets preview

BLACKHAWKS (33-38-10) at JETS (51-20-10)
7 p.m. ET; SN, WGN, NHL.TV

The Jets, 9-1-0 in their past 10, will finish second in the Central Division and will play the third-place Minnesota Wild in the Western Conference First Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Goaltender Connor Hellebuyck will start for the Jets. With a win, he would set the record for most victories (44) by a United States-born goalie. He is tied with Tom Barrasso (Pittsburgh Penguins, 1992-93).
Blackhawks forward Patrick Sharp is expected to play his final NHL game; he has announced his intention to retire after the season ends.
Chicago is 4-8-2 in its past 14 games and has alternated wins and losses in its past seven. The Blackhawks play the second of back-to-back games after a 4-1 home loss to the St. Louis Blues on Friday.

Players to watch

Blackhawks forward Alex DeBrincat has 10 points (six goals, four assists) in his past 10 games.
Jets forward Kyle Connor has 15 points (eight goals, seven assists) in his past 12 games.

They said it

"He was one of the guys who was a big part of the success we had. It's one of the nights where you think about all the good situations he had in Chicago. His family grew up here. A lot of good things happened. He was a big part of the community as well." -- Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville
"The game will not take center stage. It will be played, and that's it." -- Jets coach Paul Maurice

Blackhawks projected lineup

Brandon Saad -- Nick Schmaltz -- Patrick Kane

Tomas Jurco -- Artem Anisimov -- Andreas Martinsen

Dylan Sikura -- Victor Ejdsell -- Alex DeBrincat

Patrick Sharp -- David Kampf -- Vinnie Hinostroza

Duncan Keith -- Brent Seabrook

Erik Gustafsson -- Connor Murphy

Blake Hillman -- Jordan Oesterle
Jeff Glass

J-F Berube

Scratched:Jan RuttaInjured: Corey Crawford (upper body), Anthony Duclair (lower body), Anton Forsberg (lower body), John Hayden (upper body), Jonathan Toews (upper body)

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Jets projected lineup

Kyle Connor -- Mark Scheifele -- Blake Wheeler

Nikolaj Ehlers -- Paul Stastny -- Patrik Laine

Mathieu Perreault -- Andrew Copp -- Bryan Little

Brandon Tanev -- Adam Lowry -- Joel Armia

Josh Morrissey -- Tyler Myers
Joe Morrow -- Dustin Byfuglien

Ben Chiarot -- Tucker Poolman
Connor Hellebuyck
Steve Mason

Scratched:Shawn Matthias, Marko Dano, Jack Roslovic, Jacob TroubaInjured: Dmitry Kulikov (lower body), Matt Hendricks (lower body), Toby Enstrom (lower body)

Status report

Chicago did not hold a morning skate. … Trouba will not play because of a lower-body injury sustained in practice Friday. Tanev returns after being a healthy scratch on Thursday, Roslovic will be a healthy scratch.

Stat pack

Kane has three points (one goal, two assists) in his past four games after having nine points (two goals, seven assists) in his previous nine. … Wheeler has 14 points (five goals, nine assists) in his past 11 games.