NHL Network and ESPN analyst Kevin Weekes will offer his pluses and minuses for big games each week throughout the season.
The Chicago Blackhawks (15-20-7) visit the Detroit Red Wings (18-18-6) at Little Caesars Arena on Wednesday (7:30 p.m. ET; TNT, NHL LIVE). Then the Colorado Avalanche (29-8-3) seek their 17th straight home win when they host the Boston Bruins (24-13-2) at Ball Arena (10 p.m. ET, TNT, SN, TVAS, NHL LIVE). Here is my breakdown of the games.
Blackhawks
Pluses: Marc-Andre Fleury is having a good season for them after a tough start. Patrick Kane and Alex DeBrincat are leading the way offensively as they have for a while. Seth Jones has been a great addition on defense. Chicago is still making games competitive in their rebuild and playing harder under coach Derek King since he replaced the fired Jeremy Colliton on Nov. 6.. Minuses: They've lost four in a row (0-2-2) following a four-game winning streak and have had trouble scoring, ranking 30th in the NHL (2.29 goals per game) and the penalty kill ranks 26th (75.6 percent). That's not a good recipe for success when you're not scoring goals but allowing them on the penalty kill.
Red Wings
Pluses: Lucas Raymond (33 points) and Moritz Seider (26 points) are each in the Calder Trophy conversation for rookie of the year. Captain Dylan Larkin has scored 37 points (19 goals, 18 assists) in 37 games and Tyler Bertuzzi has scored 36 points (19 goals, 17 assists) in 34 games. Goalies Alex Nedeljkovic and Thomas Greiss have been good and the rebuild is ahead of schedule after they missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs the past five seasons. Minuses: They rank 24th in goals per game (2.67) and the power play is 29th (14.8 percent). Also, I would like to see more from their support players. It's usually not a good sign when two of your top five scorers are defensemen (Seider, Filip Hronek).
Bruins
Pluses: David Pastrnak is scoring again. He has scored 20 goals this season including four in his past four games. Brad Marchand seemed to avoid a serious injury and didn't miss a game after a scary hit last week. He leads them in points (45) and his 20 goals are tied with Pastrnak for the team lead. Defenseman Charlie McAvoy has grown into a leader and also blossomed into a complete offensive player. Boston is 10-3-0 in its past 13 games and is very good on the road (10-5-1). Minuses: I know Tuukka Rask isn't starting Wednesday, but it will still take time for him to get back into form after struggling a bit. He's 2-2-0 in four games with a 4.28 goals-against average and .844 save percentage. Hopefully by the time the Stanley Cup Playoffs come around, he'll have many more games under his belt and be the Tuukka we've seen in the past.
Avalanche
Pluses: They are the best team in the NHL right now, 18-1-2 in their past 21 games and seven straight wins. Defenseman Cale Makar is playing like a Norris Trophy finalist. We know how good forwards Nathan MacKinnon, Gabriel Landeskog and Mikko Rantanen are, but I think their MVP this season is Nazem Kadri, who leads them in scoring and is fifth in the League (52 points; 16 goals, 36 assists). The Avalanche are leading the NHL in goals per game (4.10), which takes pressure off their goalies and defensemen as well. Minuses: What negatives can I come up with? Nothing, other than the fact that the penalty kill ranks 27th (75.0 percent), not that it's hurt them much.
