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Chicago Blackhawks at New York Islanders

Thu Oct 87:30 PM ETESPN+Elmont, NY
By JR·2 min read
Blackhawks(1-3-0)
Islanders(1-2-0)
Thursday 10/087:30 PM

TLDR: Chicago visits Elmont on Thursday, October 8, still without its franchise center and still trying to prove the goal-scoring holds up for more than a night. The Islanders get them at home after a Battle of New York where they hit more posts than nets.

THU OCT 8, 7:30 PMESPN+
Blackhawks
(1-3-0)
WLLL
Islanders
(1-2-0)
LWL

The Chicago Blackhawks, 1-3 and still without Connor Bedard (shoulder, not cleared for contact) or Andrew Mangiapane, visit a New York Islanders team that shut out New Jersey and then lost 5-2 to the Rangers in a game decided partly by posts and 2 empty-netters. The game turns on whether Chicago's thinned center group can hold up against Bo Horvat, and on which goalie New York starts against an attack that has gone quiet on the road.

Chicago Blackhawks
  • Scored 4 at home vs St. Louis
  • Bedard back practicing, but not cleared for contact
  • Outscored 15-5 on the three-game road trip
  • Bedard and Mangiapane out, Teravainen day-to-day
  • Already shut out 6-0 at Utah
New York Islanders
  • Goaltending carried a 6-0 shutout of New Jersey
  • Schaefer and Palat hit iron, chances were there
  • Horvat and Ritchie both scored at the Garden

The Blackhawks are 1-3 to open the year, and the losses have mostly been lopsided. They gave up 5 in Vegas and got shut out 6-0 in Utah. The 4-3 loss in Buffalo was the closest the road trip got before they came home and beat St. Louis 4-2. Chicago scored 4 goals in that win, matching its total from the 3 games before it, which is more or less the whole story of this team so far.

The big absence is Connor Bedard. He practiced on Monday, October 5 for the first time since his July 8 left shoulder surgery, but he wore a non-contact jersey and Jeff Blashill confirmed he isn't cleared for contact. Frank Seravalli has him "within a three-week window," and the original 4-month estimate pointed to November. Thursday isn't happening for him. Andrew Mangiapane is out week-to-week with a lower-body injury, and Teuvo Teravainen is day-to-day. With Bedard already gone, losing Teravainen would leave Chicago very thin down the middle.

The Islanders' week has been a mixed bag. The goaltending carried a 6-0 win over New Jersey, then the Rangers beat them 5-2 at the Garden. That score flatters the Rangers a little: Bo Horvat and Cal Ritchie scored in the 2nd to tie it 2-2, Alexis Lafreniere's last 2 goals went into an empty net, and Matthew Schaefer and Ondrej Palat both hit the post. Semyon Varlamov started that one and stopped 19 of 22.

Who starts in goal for New York on Thursday is one of the open questions. Varlamov had the Rangers game, and the Islanders haven't said whether he or Ilya Sorokin gets Chicago. For a Blackhawks team that has been shut out once already and has gone quiet for long stretches on the road, the Islanders' starter matters more than usual.

Chicago Blackhawks
(1-3-0)
10/07WvsBlues4-2
10/03L@Sabres3-4
10/02L@Mammoth0-6
09/30L@Golden Knights2-5
New York Islanders
(1-2-0)
10/06L@Rangers2-5
10/03WvsDevils6-0
09/30L@Maple Leafs1-2

For Chicago, the game comes down to whether the St. Louis win was a turning point or a home-ice blip. The Blackhawks had already lost three road games by a combined 15-5, and now they go back out with fewer forwards. Whoever centers the top 2 lines without Bedard, and maybe without Teravainen, will see a lot of Horvat.

The Islanders are at home, they've had a day off since the Rangers game, and they have a reason to be frustrated with how that one ended. If the shots that rang off iron at the Garden go in on Thursday, this could get away from Chicago early. If the Blackhawks' young core plays the way it did against St. Louis, it should be closer. Puck drop is 7:30 PM ET at UBS Arena.

Chicago Blackhawks at New York Islanders — Bedard-less Blackhawks Visit UBS Arena to Face Islanders | Polymarket Odds · Barstool Bush