Canucks at Blackhawks preview

CANUCKS (24-24-6) at BLACKHAWKS (21-24-9)
8:30 p.m. ET; NBCSCH, SNP, NHL.TV

The Blackhawks, who have outscored opponents 28-15 in five straight victories after losing five in a row (0-3-2), are on their longest winning streak since they won seven consecutive games from Feb. 19-March 4, 2017.
Forward Patrick Kane looks for a point in his 13th straight game; he has 28 points (10 goals, 18 assists) in a 12-game point streak, the longest active streak in the NHL.
Chicago is in 13th place in the Western Conference, but three points behind Vancouver for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Canucks, who have lost two straight, are 1-3-0 in their past four games after going 3-0-2 in their previous five.

Players to watch

Canucks center Elias Pettersson has five points (two goals, three assists) in five games since returning from a right knee injury.
Blackhawks center Jonathan Toews has 11 points (five goals, six assists) in a five-game point streak and 22 points (seven goals, 15 assists) in his past 16 games.

They said it

"It's big. It feels like we're saying that a lot. I think we'll say that a lot going down the stretch too. Every point is important, every game is important." -- Canucks coach Travis Green
"For a long time, it seemed like it was so hard to go out there and make plays and find that confidence not only to score goals but to keep the puck in the zone. Teams could feel that, and they would pressure us and we would make mistakes." -- Blackhawks center Jonathan Toews on Chicago's power play, which is 7-for-16 (43.8 percent) during the five-game winning streak

Canucks projected lineup

Markus Granlund -- Bo Horvat -- Josh Leivo
Nikolay Goldobin -- Elias Pettersson -- Brock Boeser
Antoine Roussel -- Brandon Sutter -- Jake Virtanen
Loui Eriksson -- Jay Beagle -- Tyler Motte
Chris Tanev -- Erik Gudbranson
Ben Hutton -- Troy Stecher
Derrick Pouliot -- Alex Biega
Jacob Markstrom
Michael DiPietro
Scratched: Guillaume Brisebois, Tim Schaller
Injured: Alexander Edler (face), Sven Baertschi (illness), Thatcher Demko (knee sprain)

Blackhawks projected lineup

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

Status report

Demko will be out 7-10 days. … Kampf will be out 3-4 weeks.

Stat pack

Boeser has seven points (three goals, four assists) in his past six games. … Markstrom is 3-3-1 with 2.29 goals-against average and .928 save percentage in his past seven starts. … Kane's 12-game point streak is the longest by a Blackhawks player since his Chicago-record 26-game streak (40 points; 16 goals, 24 assists) from Oct.17-Dec. 1, 2015. … DeBrincat has 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in a six-game point streak.