Following Wednesday's practice, Ducharme confirmed that forward Christian Dvorak won't play against the Blackhawks. He suffered a lower-body injury versus Tampa Bay.
With Dvorak out of action, forward Jesse Ylönen enters the lineup after being recalled from the AHL's Laval Rocket.
The Habs will also be minus forward Joel Armia and defenseman Jeff Petry due to injury as well.
The Blackhawks were also in action on Tuesday night, falling 6-2 to the New York Rangers at the United Center.
Former Habs defenseman Erik Gustafsson and forward Kirby Dach scored for Chicago.
Goaltender Marc-André Fleury surrendered five goals on 29 shots and was denied the 500th victory of his NHL career.
Blueliner Seth Jones leads Chicago in scoring with 22 points (3 goals, 19 assists), while forwards Patrick Kane (21 points) and Alex DeBrincat (20 points) round out the top three.
Captain Jonathan Toews has nine assists, but is still seeking his first marker of the season.
For his part, DeBrincat boasts a team-leading 14 goals.
The two clubs will meet again on January 13 in Chicago.
Broadcast information
Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. ET.
You can watch the game on TSN2, RDS and NBC Sports Chicago, and listen to all the action on TSN 690 and 98,5 fm.