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CHICAGO -- After each played Saturday, the Chicago Blackhawks and Winnipeg Jets opted not to hold morning skates prior to their game Sunday at United Center.
Chicago (6-4-1), which lost 3-2 at the Toronto Maple Leafs, continues to be vexed by a scoring slump despite outshooting opponents by more than 12 shots per game. The Blackhawks, the only team in the NHL to top 40 shots in five games thus far, are averaging 2.5 goals on 38.9 shots per game.
Saturday at Air Canada Centre, they allowed a goal by Maple Leafs forward Peter Holland early in the third period and spent the rest of the game chasing that 3-2 deficit to no avail. In fact, the Blackhawks put 26 of their 47 shots on goal in the third and still came away empty against a fantastic effort by goalie James Reimer (45 saves).
Each of their goals came off power plays, but a season-long struggle to score continued despite the Blackhawks dominating nearly every offensive measure but the actual score of the game.
Coach Joel Quenneville was more displeased by turnovers that led to a couple of Toronto's goals. Looking for a spark, he juggled his forward lines during the game and split up his first and third defense pairings, putting Duncan Keith with Michal Rozsival and Brent Seabrook with rookie Trevor van Riemsdyk.
It was the first game back for Chicago goalie Corey Crawford, who missed six games with an upper-body injury. Until Quenneville meets with reporters (7 p.m. ET), it's unclear whether Crawford or backup Antti Raanta will start against Winnipeg.
The Jets (5-5-1) didn't thrill coach Paul Maurice with their play in the first two periods of a 1-0 shootout win Saturday at the New York Rangers, but managed to earn two points thanks to stellar outing by goalie Ondrej Pavelec (38 saves), who earned his first shutout of the season.
Forward Evander Kane's goal against Henrik Lundqvist ended the shootout in the fourth round, rewarding Pavelec for the great performance. Maurice, who will also meet with reporters before the game Sunday (6:30 p.m. ET), hasn't revealed his starting goalie against Chicago.
After playing in all 11 games (10 starts), Pavelec seems overdue for a night off. If he gets one, backup Michael Hutchinson will make his second start of the season. The first one, Oct. 13 at the Los Angeles Kings, didn't go well. Hutchinson allowed three goals on 13 shots before Pavelec replaced him.
Here are the projected lineups:
JETS
Evander Kane - Mark Scheifele - Blake Wheeler
Andrew Ladd - Bryan Little - Michael Frolik
Mathieu Perreault - Adam Lowry - Dustin Byfuglien
TJ Galiardi - Jim Slater - Chris Thorburn
Scratched: Adam Pardy, Matt Halischuk
Injured: Anthony Peluso (upper body)
BLACKHAWKS
Kris Versteeg - Jonathan Toews - Marian Hossa
Patrick Sharp - Brad Richards - Patrick Kane
Bryan Bickell - Andrew Shaw - Jeremy Morin
Brandon Saad - Marcus Kruger - Ben Smith
Johnny Oduya - Niklas Hjalmarsson
Trevor van Riemsdyk - David Rundblad
Scratched: Michal Rozsival
Injured: Daniel Carcillo (knee)
Status report: It will be interesting to see how Quenneville composes his forward lines and defense pairings against the Jets. He wasn't pleased with much following the loss to the Maple Leafs. Quenneville said that "delegation of ice time," was something he could use to help send a message about careless play with the puck, which led to a couple of Toronto's goals. ... Pardy and Halischuk have each sat out the past two games. This back-to-back finale might be a good opportunity for Maurice to get one or both into a game.
Who's hot: Richards has a point in five of the past seven games, including his first goal as a member of the Blackhawks in the loss to Toronto. ... Pavelec's performance against the Rangers on Saturday dropped his goals-against average from 2.52 to 2.10 and increased his save percentage from .901 to .921.
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