Blackhawks at Senators preview

BLACKHAWKS (0-0-0) at SENATORS (0-0-0)
7:30 p.m. ET; TSN5, RDS, WGN, NHL.TV

The Game

Goalie Cam Ward will play his first game for the Chicago Blackhawks when they open the regular season against the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre on Thursday.
Ward signed a one-year contract with the Blackhawks as an unrestricted free agent July 1. He will start Thursday because Corey Crawford is out continuing to recover from a concussion.
Backup goaltender Anton Forsberg was injured during the morning skate and will not play. Chicago recalled
Collin Delia
from the Rockford IceHogs of the American Hockey League to take his place.
Defenseman Dylan DeMelo and forwards Mikkel Boedker and Chris Tierney each will play his first game for the Senators, who will be playing their first game since trading two-time Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson to the San Jose Sharks on Sept. 13.
Ottawa received Tierney and DeMelo, forward Rudolfs Balcers and Josh Norris, a first-round pick in the 2019 or 2020 NHL Draft, and a second-round pick in 2019 for Karlsson and forward Francis Perron. The Senators traded forward Mike Hoffman, defenseman Cody Donaghey and a fifth-round pick in 2020 to the Sharks for Boedker, defenseman Julius Bergman and a sixth-round pick in 2020.

Players to watch

Forward Patrick Kane has led the Blackhawks in scoring each of the past three seasons. In 2017-18, he had 76 points (27 goals, 49 assists) in 82 games.
Forward Mark Stone led the Senators in scoring last season with 62 points (20 goals, 42 assists) in 58 games.

They said it

"A role we can definitely embrace is being the underdogs and a team that nobody maybe takes seriously or is given the respect that we think we deserve." -- Blackhawks forward Jonathan Toews
"Just playing tonight is going to be a dream come true for me." -- Senators defenseman Max Lajoie

Blackhawks projected lineup

Alex DeBrincat -- Jonathan Toews -- Dominik Kahun
Brandon Saad -- Nick Schmaltz -- Patrick Kane
Chris Kunitz -- Artem Anisimov -- David Kampf
Marcus Kruger -- Luke Johnson -- Andreas Martinsen
Duncan Keith -- Henri Jokiharju
Brent Seabrook -- Brandon Manning
Erik Gustafsson -- Jan Rutta
Cam Ward
Collin Delia
Scratched: John Hayden, Brandon Davidson
Injured: Gustav Forsling (wrist), Connor Murphy (back), Corey Crawford (concussion), Anton Forsberg (undisclosed)

Senators projected lineup

Ryan Dzingel -- Matt Duchene -- Bobby Ryan
Colin White -- Zack Smith -- Mark Stone
Alex Formenton -- Chris Tierney -- Mikkel Boedker
Max McCormick -- Tom Pyatt -- Magnus Paajarvi
Thomas Chabot -- Chris Wideman
Mark Borowiecki -- Cody Ceci
Maxime Lajoie -- Dylan DeMelo
Craig Anderson
Mike Condon
Scratched: Ben Harpur
Injured: Brady Tkachuk (groin), Jean-Gabriel Pageau (leg)

Status report

Kahun, Johnson and Jokiharju each will play in his first NHL game. … Lajoie will make his NHL debut. Tkachuk will have to wait to play in his first NHL game. The No. 4 pick in the 2018 NHL Draft said he is "doing everything in my power" to be ready to play on Saturday against the Montreal Canadiens.

Stat pack

Senators coach Guy Boucher is 4-0-1 in season-opening games.