Brother will face off against brother, as the rivalry is renewed once again. The Wild will come into the match with a 20-10-4 record, and 2nd in the Central Division.
A record good enough for 7th in the NHL, under Head Coach John Hynes. The Wild have found the winning edge, with forward Kirill Kaprizov, and Center Marco Rossi leading the way.
While the Blackhawks will have to figure out how to stifle both dynamic Wild forwards and work on enforcing their will on the ice.
But after the last game against the Calgary Flames, is the chemistry there?
Ben Pope of the CST released the practice lines today, as the Hawks will look considerably different tomorrow.
Notably, Center Connor Bedard will be flanked by skill, and muscle as Taylor Hall is on his left, and the gritty forward Tyler Bertuzzi flanks him on the right.
Blackhawks lines in practice in Minnesota:
Hall-Bedard-Bertuzzi
Foligno-Nazar-Donato
Teravainen-Dickinson-Mikheyev
Maroon-Reichel-Anderson
Vlasic-Murphy
Allan-Jones
Korchinski-Brodie
Crevier- Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) December 22, 2024
The lineup of Bedard, Donato, and Foligno was unable to stop the Flames, so Coach Anders Sorensen is adjusting the lines.
Note, that these were the lines that were flipped near the end of the game.
Did you think after the game in Calgary last night that Anders Sorensen is warranted in flipping the lines?
A note on that:
The line has passed the eye test and has impressed the stat nerds, so tomorrow we'll see how it fares against the Wild.
Can Bedard put up another 3 points against their rivals?