MONTREAL – The Blackhawks will have their usual top-six defensemen tonight but the pairings won't be the same when they face the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday night.
Coach Joel Quenneville was commenting on Brent Seabrook's higher minutes when he added, "we’re going to change the D pairs a little tonight, see how that works out."
The personnel from Sunday shouldn’t change but Quenneville wouldn't divulge the switches.
As for the Canadiens, they have a few familiar faces in Andrew Shaw and Phillip Danault. Danault, who was part of the deal that brought Tomas Fleischmann and Dale Weise to Chicago last spring, has been having a solid season (10 goals, 22 assists) with the Canadiens.
"Good for him. He's really progressed in the year," Quenneville said of Danault. "He's getting opportunity to play more of an offensive situation. But you like the way he competes, you like the way he works and he added a little offense to his game, as well. You root for a guy like him. He's one of those guys that gives you more than an honest effort every single day. Good progression for him."
Corey Crawford will get the nod in his hometown. In his four NHL games at Bell Centre, Crawford is 2-0-2 with a 1.24 goals against average and .965 save percentage.
BLACKHAWKS AT MONTREAL CANADIENS
NHL
6:30 p.m.
TV: CSN
Live stream: CSN Chicago or NBC Sports app
Radio: WGN 720 AM
Chicago Blackhawks
Forward lines
Nick Schmaltz-Jonathan Toews-Richard Panik
Artemi Panarin-Artem Anisimov-Patrick Kane
Ryan Hartman-Tanner Kero-Marian Hossa
Dennis Rasmussen-Marcus Kruger-Jordin Tootoo
Defensive pairs (projected)
Duncan Keith-Niklas Hjalmarsson
Johnny Oduya-Brent Seabrook
Brian Campbell-Trevor van Riemsdyk
Goaltender
Corey Crawford
INJURIES/ILLNESS: None.
Montreal Canadiens
Forward lines
Max Pacioretty-Alex Galchenyuk-Alexandar Radulov
Artturi Lehkonen-Phillip Danault-Brendan Gallagher
Paul Byron-Tomas Plekanec-Andrew Shaw
Dwight King-Steve Ott-Torrey Mitchell
Defensive Pairs
Andrei Markov-Shea Weber
Alexei Emelin-Jeff Petry
Brandon Davidson-Jordie Benn
Goaltender
Carey Price
INJURIES/ILLNESS: Brian Flynn (upper body).