Maple Leafs at Blackhawks preview

Maple Leafs (1-1-0) at Blackhawks (2-0-0)
7 p.m. ET; NHLN, SN, SN360, TVAS, NBCSCH, NHL.TV

The Game

Garret Sparks will make his first start for the Toronto Maple Leafs in more than two years when they play the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center on Sunday.
Sparks, who was born in Elmhurst, Illinois, will look to help the Maple Leafs bounce back from a 5-3 loss to the Ottawa Senators on Saturday.
Chicago, which is playing its home opener, will look to start 3-0-0 for the first time since 2012-13.
Blackhawks center Jonathan Toews recorded his fifth career regular-season hat trick at 2:20 of overtime goal in a 5-4 win against the St. Louis Blues on Saturday. It was the first time Toews, who also scored in Chicago's season opener (4-3 overtime win against Ottawa Senators), has scored in consecutive NHL games to start a season.

Players to watch

Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews has four points (three goals, one assist) in two games this season.
Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane has four points (two goals, two assists) in two games this season.

They said it

"I thought we had a good game. I think we created some good opportunities to score and so did they, but they scored a little bit more. They got the most of their opportunities." -- Maple Leafs goaltender Frederik Andersen on loss to Senators
"It was a huge two points. I liked the way we competed right from the start of training camp and going into these games here, a lot of good character things. When you get your captain leading the charge like [on Saturday], that sets the tone." -- Blackhawks head coach Joel Quenneville

Maple Leafs projected lineup

Patrick Marleau -- Auston Matthews -- Tyler Ennis
Zach Hyman -- John Tavares -- Mitchell Marner
Josh Leivo -- Nazem Kadri -- Connor Brown
Andreas Johnsson -- Par Lindholm -- Kasperi Kapanen
Morgan Rielly -- Ron Hainsey
Jake Gardiner -- Nikita Zaitsev
Travis Dermott -- Martin Marincin
Garret Sparks
Frederik Andersen
Scratched: Frederik Gauthier, Igor Ozhiganov, Justin Holl
Injured: None

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 -- John Hayden
Duncan Keith -- Henri Jokiharju
Brandon Manning -- Brent Seabrook
Erik Gustafsson -- Jan Rutta
Cam Ward
Anton Forsberg
Scratched:Andreas Martinsen, Brandon Davidson
Injured: Corey Crawford (concussion symptoms), Gustav Forsling (wrist), Connor Murphy (back)

Status report

Sparks' last start came against the New Jersey Devils on April 9, 2016.

Stat pack

Jokiharju picked up his first two NHL points (two assists) against St. Louis. He's the youngest Blackhawks player (19 years, 111 days) to record a point since Kane (19 years, 109 days) on March 7, 2008. … Chicago has won 44 straight regular-season games in which Toews and Kane score.