Blackhawks vs Canucks Picks & Props

The matchup is the third time the teams have faced off this season with the Canucks winning the first two, 4-1 at home in November and 6-3 a month earlier in Chicago.

The Canucks are coming off a 4-3 win in a shootout at Calgary on Wednesday, while the skidding Blackhawks lost a third straight road game, 4-2 to San Jose on Thursday.

The Canucks are playing their fourth game in six nights and second straight back-to-back.

This is the ninth back-to-back for the Canucks this season with the Blackhawks in town followed by Utah on Sunday.

Vancouver is banged up with injuries to defensemen Elias N. Pettersson and Tyler Myers and goalie Thatcher Demko.

Captain and leading scorer Quinn Hughes returned on Wednesday against Calgary and played big minutes despite missing four games with an injury.

But Pettersson exited the game in the first period after taking a crosscheck to the head from Calgary's Connor Zary. On Thursday, the league suspended Zary for two games.

Conor Garland scored the clinching goal in the shootout and Hughes had an assist in regulation. Hughes led both teams with a massive 29:48 minutes of ice time as Vancouver rallied to beat its division rival.

"I don't know a lot of guys who can do that - not practice and then go in and play a game and make an impact. I'm lucky to have him," said Canucks coach Rick Tocchet.

Forward Elias Pettersson had a goal and an assist in regulation, and also scored the first goal of the shootout for Vancouver, which trailed 3-2 heading into the third.

The victory was a big confidence boost for the Canucks, who became the last team in the league to record a win when trailing after 40 minutes.

"We went down to five defensemen early in the game," Tocchet said. "Someone reminded me we were the only team who has not come back in the third period.

"So glad we broke that goose egg."

The Connor Bedard-led Blackhawks close out a four-game road trip after dropping the first three.

The 19-year-old Bedard, who is the reigning Calder Trophy winner, will be making just his second appearance in his hometown. He is having a solid sophomore season with a team-leading 52 points in 66 games, but his night did not go well against San Jose on Thursday.

Bedard was slapped with a 10-minute misconduct penalty for verbal abuse of an official midway through the third period. Missing the 2023 No. 1 overall draft pick for most of the period, the Blackhawks weren't able to find the late equalizer.

"It is not fun to watch," Bedard said. "I got to be smarter with my words. I am supposed to be out there."

Chicago has plenty of terrific young prospects besides Bedard, especially on defense and at center.

One of those is center Frank Nazar who scored against the Sharks along with former Canuck Ilya Mikheyev. Spencer Knight stopped 21 of 24 shots.

"Just being able to get a win on the road is what we are focused on, and that is what we are going to try our best to do," said Nazar.

Arvid Soderblom is likely to get the nod in goal over Knight as the goalies have been alternating starts of late.

"I feel like we are playing better and have really taken some steps the past week," said Bedard.

--Field Level Media