Sabres at Blackhawks preview

SABRES (30-28-8) at BLACKHAWKS (27-30-9)
8:30 p.m. ET; ESPN+, NBCSCH, MSG-B, NHL.TV

The Blackhawks, 1-5-0 in their past six games and 4-6-0 in their past 10 following a seven-game winning streak, are nine points behind the Minnesota Wild for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.
Forward Patrick Kane has 44 points (18 goals, 26 assists) in his past 24 games and points in 28 of 32. He is one point from tying Steve Larmer (923) for fourth place on Chicago's all-time scoring list; Stan Mikita (1,467 points), Bobby Hull (1,153) and Denis Savard (1,096) are the top three.
The Sabres, 2-7-1 in their past 10 games and 5-10-2 in their past 17, are 11 points behind the Montreal Canadiens for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference.

Players to watch

Sabres center Jack Eichel has 11 points (seven goals, four assists) in his past nine games and is two goals shy of 100 in the NHL.
Blackhawks center Jonathan Toews has 11 points (four goals, seven assists) in his past nine games and 25 points (11 goals, 14 assists) in his past 17.

They said it

"He's a dangerous player, scored two goals and two assists against us last time. So we're going to have to manage the puck, and we talk about it a lot, but when he's on the ice particularly, we have to pay attention to that because once the puck gets turned over, he's going." -- Sabres coach Phil Housley on defending Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane
"There's no playoffs, there's no offseason, there's no next year, it's all right now. We want to be as good as we can be. We don't have that many games left this year so we're trying to make the most of it." -- Blackhawks center Jonathan Toews

Sabres projected lineup

Jeff Skinner -- Jack Eichel -- Sam Reinhart
Conor Sheary -- Evan Rodrigues -- Kyle Okposo
Scott Wilson -- Casey Mittelstadt -- Jason Pominville
Zemgus Girgensons -- Vladimir Sobotka -- Tage Thompson
Marco Scandella -- Rasmus Ristolainen
Rasmus Dahlin -- Casey Nelson
Zach Bogosian -- Brandon Montour
Carter Hutton
Linus Ullmark
Scratched: Johan Larsson, Matt Hunwick
Injured: Jake McCabe (upper body)

Blackhawks projected lineup

Brandon Saad -- Jonathan Toews -- John Hayden
Alex DeBrincat -- Dylan Strome -- Brendan Perlini
Dominik Kahun -- Artem Anisimov -- Patrick Kane
Chris Kunitz -- David Kampf -- Marcus Kruger
Duncan Keith -- Brent Seabrook
Slater Koekkoek -- Erik Gustafsson
Gustav Forsling -- Connor Murphy
Corey Crawford
Collin Delia
Scratched: Dylan Sikura, Carl Dahlstrom
Injured: Cam Ward (right knee), Drake Caggiula (concussion)

Status report

With Ward expected to be out 7-10 days, the Blackhawks recalled Delia from Rockford of the American Hockey League on Tuesday.

Stat pack

Reinhart has six points (four goals, two assists) in his past six games and is two points shy of 200 in the NHL. … Okposo needs one assist for 300 in the NHL. … DeBrincat has 11 points (seven goals, four assists) in his past eight games. … Gustafsson has 10 points (one goal, nine assists) in his past six games.