The Chicago Blackhawks are set to finish the pre-Christmas portion of their 2025-26 schedule on Tuesday night with a match against the Philadelphia Flyers at the United Center.
Chicago, which is on a six-game regulation losing streak, has plummeted to the bottom of the NHL standings. As for Philly, they have stayed afloat with their second-place standing in the Metropolitan Division.
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Scouting Philadelphia
The Philadelphia Flyers are in their first year with head coach Rick Tocchet. He has helped them become a respectable team in the NHL. They work hard, have plenty of skill, and are hard to play against.
This game will be the second half of a back-to-back for the Flyers. They defeated the Vancouver Canucks 5-2 at home in Philadelphia.
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Michkov-Cates-Brink
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York-Sanheim
Andrae-Drysdale
Seeler-Ristolainen
Ersson
This is a well-balanced group that features a nice mix of young players and veterans. With a head coach like Tocchet, it’s the perfect blend.
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Travis Konecny and Travis Sanheim are guys who could be considered for Team Canada at the Olympics. Both of them were members of the 4-Nations Face-Off team and made a big impact on the gold-medal-winning team.
Other young players, like Matvei Michkov, are exciting to watch and can make plays at a high level. Even a guy like Trevor Zegras, who came over in a big summer trade with the Anaheim Ducks, is having a bounce-back season. Now that he’s healthy, you see what he can do with his skills.
Their captain, Sean Couturier, isn’t the young star that he once was, but he is still an excellent player who makes an impact in all three zones. He has also dealt with some health battles over the last handful of seasons, but he is totally back and making an impact again.
Dan Vladar, who may have taken over as the number one goalie on this team, started against the Canucks on Monday night. It is expected that Sam Ersson will play against the Blackhawks.
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Projected Lines, Defense Pairs, & Goalie For Chicago
The Chicago Blackhawks are now without Frank Nazar in addition to Connor Bedard. Nazar took a puck to the face in their last game, a loss to the Ottawa Senators, and he is going to be out for about four weeks. Bedard, of course, will be re-evaluated after the new year.
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Moore-Donato-Lardis
Teravainen-Dickinson-Mikheyev
Dach-Toninato-Lafferty
Vlasic-Crevier
Grzelcyk-Levshunov
Kaiser-Murphy
Knight
Ryan Greene is being given a big-time opportunity with the top-line center role. With Tyler Bertuzzi and Andre Burakovsky, this could be a solid trio that has a little bit of everything on it.
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Nick Lardis and Oliver Moore are also getting a big opportunity as they are looking to be on the second line with Ryan Donato in the middle.
Teuvo Teravainen, who missed Monday’s practice with a maintenance day, is going to play. Nick Foligno was also in the mix to join this group for the game based on Monday’s practice, but he is not ready to return just yet.
Spencer Knight is scheduled to start in goal for Chicago. He has been playing well, but the team in front of him has been finding ways to lose over the last couple of weeks. It’s hardly Knight’s fault, but the Blackhawks could use one of those signature “stand on your head” wins from their goaltender in this one.
How To Watch
The game can be heard locally on AM 720 WGN in the Chicagoland area. To view this game, it can be found nationally and locally on TNT. The puck is scheduled to drop at 8:25 PM CT.
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