Fresh off a milestone-infused win, the Chicago Blackhawks plan to mix things up for their next game. On Saturday night in Toronto, Kevin Lankinen will be the starting goalie. Interim head coach Derek King intends to shake up the Hawks’ lines as well.
Despite Marc-Andre Fleury coming off his 500th career win Thursday in Montreal, King will turn to Lankinen in net. The second-year goaltender has a 2-4-2 record, .890 save percentage, and 3.14 goals-against average in nine games (eight starts) this season.
Additionally, King plans to tweak his forward groupings against the Maple Leafs. This comes after the Blackhawks employed a perplexing lineup against the Canadiens on Thursday night.
It’s part of an experimentation process, as King elaborated on following Thursday’s win.
“We’ll keep playing with it until we get that little chemistry where it looks like it works,” he said regarding the Hawks’ plans for the next game.
Notably, Dylan Strome was a healthy scratch despite recording a point in the Blackhawks’ previous two games. Instead, recent AHL call-ups Philipp Kurashev and Mike Hardman drew into the lineup vs. the Habs. Neither cracked the score sheet, but Kurashev recorded two shots and Hardman had six hits. However, Hardman only played 8:40, the lowest mark among Hawks skaters.
Whether King will reinsert Strome or elect to alternate within the same personnel that played vs. Montreal remains to be seen. Regardless, the Blackhawks will have a different look when they take the ice Saturday night in Toronto.
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