Blackhawks-Blue Jackets: Chicago Looks to Duplicate Halloween Magic in Columbus

Game Preview

Halloween night treated the Chicago Blackhawks to a great night at home versus the Dallas Stars. The 'Hawks were able to neutralize the Stars offense and were finally able to generate a good amount of secondary scoring.

Tonight they will travel to Columbus to take on the Blue Jackets, who also find themselves looking for their second straight victory. Although the Blue Jackets are coming off of a 4-2 win over the Colorado Avalanche, they had been struggling with three straight losses prior to playing the Avalanche.

On the other side of the rink, the 'Hawks have thrived under new head coach Joel Quenneville, with only one regulation loss and eight points in their first five games. The players who have thrived under coach "Q" are the 'Hawks finesse players: Martin Havlat and Patrick Kane. 

Kane has had seven points in Quenneville's first five, including two three-point games versus Vancouver and Dallas. Havlat has also played great under Quenneville with five points, and currently has a four game point streak. 

The 'Hawks seem to have finally found an identity under Joel Quenneville, something that they lacked under Denis Savard. Heading into Columbus with confidence, the 'Hawks look to treat themselves to another Halloween weekend win.

Player(s) to Watch

Dave Bolland

Bolland watched his line mates, Dustin Byfuglien and Andrew Ladd, enjoy a good night with both of them scoring goals. Look for Bolland to get his piece of the pie tonight versus Columbus. Bolland has four points on the season and has posted a plus-3 in ten games.

Brian Campbell

I don't expect Campbell to do anything different tonight than he has done all season. But for the people that believed that once he got a big contract his head would get big, you will be wrong.

Campbell leads Chicago defensemen in points with six, and leads the entire team in plus/minus with a plus-6. He also has a three game point streak headed into tonight.

Chicago Blackhawks Projected Line-Up

Forwards

Versteeg-Toews-Kane

Brouwer-Sharp-Havlat

Ladd-Bolland-Byfuglien

Burish-Fraser-Eager

Defense

Keith-Seabrook

Campbell-Barker

Sopel-Johnson

Goal-Tender

Khabibulin

Chicago Blackhawks New and Notes

Last game versus the Stars, four Blackhawks scored their first goals of the season (Barker, Sopel, Byfuglien and Ladd).

Look for Cam Barker to get paired with Brian Campbell today after they played well last night versus Dallas. Barker started the first period with Brent Sopel but as the game progressed Coach Joel Quenneville began to pair Barker with Campbell. Look for more of that tonight in Columbus.