Division Rivalry: Battle for the Bottom Coyotes at Blackhawks

At what can only be described as an insanely early morning skate (9:30am!), all players were present and accounted for. However, that won't necessarily be the case for tonight's game. Already, we know that Vlasic is being held out of the lineup (again), and Kurashev and Borgstrom have also been scratched. Entwistle and Gustafsson are in. Full disclosure, I'm not entirely sure what they're doing with Vlasic. Why not send him down to Rockford for a minute, instead of wasting his time and talent? It's clearly working for Lucas Reichel, who netted another amazing goal in the Icehogs' 6-3 win over the - wait for it - Tuscon Roadrunners. Foreshadowing? Let's hope so!

Kevin (Lankinen) will start between the pipes to face Arizona's Clayton Keller, who leads the team in goals, assists, and points, and the rest of the Coyotes. No news yet on who's in net for the opposition, but if it's Karel Vejmelka, the Hawks know they'll have their work cut out for them. Every time Arizona wins, it's always - Arizona WON?! Oh, Vej was in goal. He stopped HOW MANY shots?! This kid's awesome, and I hope the Coyotes get better, or he gets to go play for a more complete team.

So far, the season series of 4 games is tied at one each. The Hawks won the first match-up in November, 2-1, while the Coyotes took control of the second in January, and beat Chicago 6-4. Schmaltz, Ritchie and Keller are pretty decent sparring partners for DeBrincat, Kane, and Kubalik, so we'll have to keep an eye on those six. And even though he's the «enemy», I feel congratulations are in order to new dad Phil Kessel, on holding the longest active Iron Man Streak (second longest in NHL history) at 968 games.

Also, another congrats to Chicago's Captain, as we get to welcome him home after his 1000th game! Tonight is for Tazer. GO HAWKS!