Carolina Hurricanes at Chicago Blackhawks: Lineups and Game Discussion

Following up a 6-2 loss and the firing of a general manager doesn’t seem like it’d be a great boost for a team, but the season goes on for the Hurricanes as they are eternally in the “playoff picture.”

Tonight’s opponent: an unusually bad Chicago Blackhawks squad.

It’s a night of reunions, and fittingly, Scott Darling (10-16-7/3.09 GAA/.889 SV), a former Stanley Cup champion with Chicago, will get the start in net, coach Bill Peters confirmed yesterday.

Trevor van Riemsdyk will also get a welcome at his former home when he touches in the ice at the United Center.

But enough about the city with bad pizza (hot take?).

The only major move for the Canes prior to the game is the assignment of Lucas Wallmark to Charlotte, where he’ll try to help the Checkers with a “whale(r)” of a weekend series against the Hartford Wolf Pack.

The Canes didn’t take a morning skate, and no lines were reported from yesterday’s practice, so here’s our best guess at the lineup:

Brock McGinn - Jordan Staal - Justin Williams

Sebastian Aho - Elias Lindholm - Teuvo Teravainen

Jeff Skinner - Victor Rask - Phil Di Giuseppe

Joakim Nordstrom - Derek Ryan - Lee Stempniak

Jaccob Slavin - Justin Faulk

Noah Hanifin - Brett Pesce

Haydn Fleury - Trevor van Riemsdyk

Scott Darling

Cam Ward

As mysterious as their turn of good luck is the mystery of Corey Crawford.

Crawford is still away from the ice for reasons that nearly no one knows except to call it an “unspecified upper-body injury” four days after a game against the New Jersey Devils in December.

J.F. Berube (2-1-0/3.10 GAA/.907 SV) will get only his fourth start of the season tonight after a win against Colorado on Tuesday, posting a 33-of-34 night in net.

Here’s what Second City Hockey, the Blackhawks’ SBN affiliate, has for the lines tonight:

Brandon Saad - Jonathan Toews - Patrick Kane

Alex DeBrincat - Nick Schmaltz - Vinnie Hinostroza

Tomas Jurco - Artem Anisimov - Matthew Highmore

Patrick Sharp - David Kampf - Anthony Duclair

Duncan Keith - Connor Murphy

Erik Gustafsson - Brent Seabrook

Carl Dahlstrom - Jan Rutta

J.F. Berube

Anton Forsberg