NEW YORK – Scott Darling will get his seventh consecutive start and Michal Kempny will draw back into the lineup when the Blackhawks face the New York Islanders on Thursday night.
With Corey Crawford still sidelined, Darling is 3-2-1 in his last six starts. He has allowed only three goals over his last four games. Crawford, meanwhile, skated back in Chicago on Wednesday.
“He felt pretty good,” Quenneville said of Crawford, who is nearly two weeks removed from his appendectomy. “We’ll continue to see how he progresses [Thursday] and go from there.”
Obviously, the Blackhawks won’t rush Crawford’s recovery; the original timeline had him coming back in 2-3 weeks and he’s still on that.
“You want to make sure you’re more than ready when you come back, especially with goalies,” Quenneville said. “Talking with the same situation with Jonny [Toews], the want to come back and play as early as possible, but at the same I think they know their body when they’re 100 percent and getting cleared medically is part of that as well. And getting everybody in front of you in practice is something you got to get through first at all.”
Kempny is expected to play after being a healthy scratch the last four games. It looks like Jordin Tootoo will also be back in the lineup. Tyler Motte appears to be the likely forward scratch.
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NHL
The Blackhawks will see a few former teammates, including Andrew Ladd. The forward signed a seven-year, $38.5 million contract with the Islanders last summer but his start hasn’t been great. Ladd, who is penciled in on the Islanders’ fourth line, has a goal and two assists in his last 14 games.
“I think anything you’re going through you’re trying to draw on situations that you’ve been in before where if you’ve been struggling or you try to go back to what has made you successful,” Ladd told NHL.com at the Islanders’ morning skate. “I think you're trying everything at this point to get yourself where you want to be.”
Broadcast information
Time: 6 p.m.
TV: CSN
Live Stream: CSNChicago.com
Blackhawks lines
Ryan Hartman-Jonathan Toews-Marian Hossa
Artemi Panarin-Artem Anisimov-Patrick Kane
Dennis Rasmussen-Marcus Kruger-Richard Panik
Andrew Desjardins-Vinnie Hinostroza-Jordin Tootoo
Defensive pairs
Duncan Keith-Niklas Hjalmarsson
Michal Kempny-Brent Seabrook
Brian Campbell-Trevor van Riemsdyk
Goaltender
Scott Darling
Injuries
Corey Crawford (appendix)
Islanders lines (via Newsday)
Anders Lee-John Tavares-Josh Bailey
Shane Prince- Brock Nelson-Ryan Strome
Nikolay Kulemin-Casey Cizikas-Cal Clutterbuck
Andrew Ladd-Alan Quine-Jason Chimera
Defensive pairs
Nick Leddy-Adam Pelech
Calvin de Haan-Travis Hamonic
Thomas Hickey-Johnny Boychuk
Goaltender
Thomas Greiss