The Chicago Blackhawks will face the Vancouver Canucks in game four of their six-game road trip on Wednesday night. The first three haven't gone according to plan, as they are 0-2-1 on the trip.
The Blackhawks, ahead of this trip, were off to a good start to the 2025-26 season. These last three games have been a bump in the road, but this match against Vancouver is their next chance to get back on track.
This is Connor Bedard's next opportunity for a good performance against the team he grew up cheering for. The first few games of his career didn't go as well as he would have liked, but he is a completely different player with a totally different outlook this time.
Scouting Vancouver
Vancouver missed the playoffs last season in what turned out to be a disaster of a year for the organization. They were forced to trade J.T. Miller because he wasn't getting along with other players on the team, other players had career-worst numbers, and the year was capped off by the GM admitting that Quinn Hughes may want to leave to play with his brothers.
Despite all of that noise, they are fighting to stay afloat in the Pacific Division and Western Conference. They enter this game on the outside portion of the bubble with a record of 7-7-0.
Kevin Lankinen is the projected starter for the Vancouver Canucks. The old Chicago Blackhawks goalie has played very well since moving to Vancouver, and he will look to keep that going against the Blackhawks in this one.
Kane - Pettersson - Garland
DeBrusk Reichel - Boeser
O’Connor - Räty - Sherwood
Bains - Sasson - Karlsson
Hughes - Myers
Pettersson - Hronek
Pettersson - Willander
Following an injury, Quinn Hughes returned to the Vancouver Canucks lineup in their last game against the Nashville Predators. In this game, they'll be getting another boost with the addition of Conor Garland back in the lineup.
Vancouver is coming off their own road trip, where it went 2-1-0. These additions to their lineup make them even more dangerous.
Yes, there are three players with the last name of Pettersson in their lineup. Elias is their star center who wears number 40 on the top line.
He isn't the only Elias Pettersson, either, though. The other is a depth defenseman who will play on the third pair and wear number 25. The third, Marcus, will play on the second pair and wear number 29.
Kevin Lankinen isn't the only ex-Blackhawk going in this game. Lukas Reichel, who was just traded to Vancouver a couple of weeks ago, is projected to be their second-line center. That is far better for him than being a healthy scratch regularly in Chicago.
Reichel is out to prove that Vancouver made the right decision trading for him. Although he went out with some of his teammates on Tuesday night, he is ready for business when the puck drops.
Vancouver didn't take part in line rushes during Wednesday's morning skate, so these are projected, but the addition of Garland back to the lineup will add to their depth either way.
Projected Blackhawks Lines, Defense Pairs, and Starting Goalie
Greene-Bedard-Burakovsky
Teräväinen-Nazar-Bertuzzi
Moore-Donato-Mikheyev
Foligno-Dach
Vlasic-Rinzel
Kaiser-Levshunov
Grzelcyk-Murphy
Crevier
Knight
Spencer Knight is the projected starter for the Chicago Blackhawks. He has been their number one all season, and is looking to lead the way to victory on Wednesday night.
Like the Canucks, the Blackhawks didn't reveal lines during their morning skate. That is starting to become a pattern for Jeff Blashill over the last few morning skates.
There are two reasons to believe that they will go with 11/7 again, however. The first is that they have gone with that strategy in all but two games. The second reason is that Sam Lafferty, who has been a healthy scratch in all but three games this season, was the last off the ice.
Bedard's homecoming will see him on a line with Ryan Greene and Andre Burakovsky. Bedard is looking to extend his point streak, while Burakovsky would like to get his goal-scoring streak to four.
On defense, this group of seven has worked very well for the Blackhawks. They had some tough moments against the Winnipeg Jets earlier in the tip, but they have been solid otherwise.
How To Watch
The Blackhawks and Canucks can be found locally on CHSN. Nationally, it can be found on ESPN+ in the United States and on Sportsnet in Canada. In Chicago, it can be heard on WGN AM 720. The puck will drop a little bit after 9 PM CT.
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