The Detroit Red Wings and the Chicago Blackhawks meet in NHL action from the United Center on Friday night.
The Detroit Red Wings will look to bounce back from their first loss of the season after a 5-4 OT loss to the Los Angeles Kings last time out. David Perron, Dylan Larkin, Oskar Sundqvist and Olli Maatta each have 4 points with Perron logging a team-high 3 goals and is the only Red Wing with multiple goals so far this season while Larkin, Sundqvist and Maatta all have a goal and 3 assists. Michael Rasmussen and Dominik Kubalik each have 3 points with a pair of assists. Ville Husso has gone 1-0-1 with a 2.50 GAA and a .923 save percentage while Alex Nedeljkovic is 1-0 with a 2.02 GAA and a .949 save percentage between the pipes for Detroit this season.
The Chicago Blackhawks will try to build on their 5-2 win over the San Jose Sharks last time out. Sam Lafferty, Jason Dickinson and Tyler Johnson each have 3 points with Lafferty posting a pair of goals while Dickinson has a pair of assists and Tyler Johnson has a team-high 3 assists this season. Taylor Raddish, Jonathan Toews and Philipp Kurashev each have 2 points with Toews logging a pair of goals as well this season. Petr Mrazek is 1-1 with a 3.50 GAA and an .885 save percentage while Alex Stalock is 0-1 with a 1.03 GAA and a .973 save percentage this season.
Detroit is 25-77 in their last 102 road games and 13-38 in their last 51 games against the Central division while the over is 11-5-1 in their last 17 games against a team with a losing record. Chicago is 8-20 in their last 28 home games and 18-39 in their last 57 games overall while the over is 5-1 in their last 6 home games.
I get the case to be made for either side in this game, but I’m looking at Detroit here. The Red Wings have a history of struggling on the road, but they’re the much better team here and have really taken steps to improve the team while the Blackhawks are likely going to be suffering through another rebuild season coming up. I just don’t feel like we’re getting enough plus money to consider Chicago, even at home, so I’ll back the Red Wings in this one.