A busy weekend for the Blackhawks gets started on Saturday afternoon with a road game against the New Jersey Devils.

This is going to be a brief one considering the opening faceoff is just a few hours away. The Devils have done a pretty good job proving last season was more of an anomaly, as new coach Sheldon Keefe has NJ with a 19-10-3 record good for 41 points, second in the Metropolitan Division and Eastern Conference to the Washington Capitals at 42. The top duo of Jesper Bratt (39 points in 32 games) and Jack Hughes (38 in 32) make for one of the best scoring lines in the entire league regardless of who the third linemate is. Nico Hischier also has 27 points in 32 games, leading a second line that can provide plenty of matchup issues as well. Dougie Hamilton is back on the blue line after playing just 20 games last season and has 21 points (5 G, 16 A) to show for it.

The biggest difference is in net, though, where Jakob Markstrom has taken over as the No. 1 goalie after the Devils found zero consistency among the five netminders it had throughout the 2023-24 season. A perfectly respectable stat line (14-6-2 record, .906 save percentage, 2.41 goals-against average) has provided enough reliability for a team that certainly has more than enough firepower at the other end of the ice. And Chicago would be wise to avoid testing the Devils top-ranked power play, currently converting at a rate of 30.9 percent.

Oh, and the Devils have recovered well from a mediocre 5-4-2 start, winning 14 of the 21 games since. New Jersey may have slid back a bit with a pair of losses in the last week at home against the Colorado Avalanche and Toronto Maple Leafs but righted things again with a home win against the LA Kings on Thursday.

This team will likely present plenty of problems for the Hawks. Here’s the NJ lineup from the last game:

Who we’re going to battle with. pic.twitter.com/43MAnq80M6

— New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) December 12, 2024

As for the Hawks, buzz is back in the building a bit with Frank Nazar set to make his 2024-25 NHL debut after spending the last two months flourishing in the AHL. It’ll be a stiff test for him and the rest of the suddenly youth-filled Hawks’ lineup, but that’s going to be the case more often than not for the final two-thirds of the schedule.

Here’s what Chicago trotted out at practice Friday, which should be close to what’ll be on the ice for Saturday:

Looks like Frank Nazar will make his NHL season debut tomorrow against the Devils. These are Blackhawks’ forward lines in practice today:Kurashev-Bedard-DonatoHall-Nazar-BertuzziFoligno-Dickinson-MikheyevMaroon-Reichel-Teravainen

— Ben Pope (@benpopecst.bsky.social) 2024-12-13T18:22:17.789Z

Let’s go Hawks.

Tale of the Tape

Blackhawks — Statistic — Devils
45.14% (31st) — 5-on-5 Corsi For — 51.76% (10th)
45.16% (29th) — 5-on-5 Expected goals for — 55.18% (3rd)
2.45 (30th) — Goals per game — 3.31 (t-7th)
3.17 (t-22nd) — Goals against per game — 2.66 (6th)
43.5% (31st) — Faceoffs — 49.9% (t-18th)
24.0% (11th) — Power play — 30.9% (1st)
83.1% (5th) — Penalty kill — 81.3% (t-9th)
(All stats from this season)