Vancouver @ Chicago preview

Last Meeting ( Oct 31, 2018 ) Chicago 2, Vancouver 4

The Chicago Blackhawks are still buried in last place in the Central Division, but the postseason hopes that appeared dead just three weeks ago have suddenly been re-invigorated by a season-high five-game winning streak. The Blackhawks are only three points back of the second wild card held by the Vancouver Canucks, who will visit Chicago on Thursday night.

The surging Blackhawks completed a sweep of a three-game road trip by erupting for five third-period goals in a 6-2 victory at Edmonton on Tuesday night. "We have a bit of momentum and we are playing well," Chicago coach Jeremy Colliton said. "We just need to keep pushing and we will get our points." The Canucks dropped consecutive one-goal decisions at Philadelphia and Washington heading into the finale of a four-game road trip and have six teams within three points of them. "Come February, come March and April, we need points and we need them bad," goaltender Jacob Markstrom said. "It's tough when there's a lot of teams chasing you and you're chasing a lot of teams."

TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, Sportsnet Pacific (Vancouver), NBCS Chicago

ABOUT THE CANUCKS (24-24-6): Vancouver received relatively positive news before Tuesday's game when it was revealed that defenseman Alex Edler did not suffer any facial fractures after hitting his head on the ice in Monday's game, but he will be sidelined at least a week due to a concussion. With Edler out, fellow blue-liner Ben Hutton logged his second-highest total of the season with 28:35 of ice time while collecting an assist to halt a five-game point drought. Rookie standout Elias Pettersson scored for the first time in five games, giving him 24 on the season and 14 in 24 road contests.

ABOUT THE BLACKHAWKS (21-24-9): Chicago scored four times in a span of less than three minutes in the win over Edmonton and, per usual, star forward Patrick Kane was in the middle of the rally, netting one goal and setting up another to extend his point streak to 12 games. Kane has amassed 10 goals and 18 assists during his streak to boost his season point total to 78, leaving him three back of Tampa Bay's Nikita Kucherov for the league lead. Captain Jonathan Toews has contributed five goals and six assists during a five-game point streak, a span in which the Blackhawks scored 28 goals.

OVERTIME

1. Chicago F Alex DeBrincat has three goals and seven assists during a six-game point streak.

2. Markstrom, forced to play both ends of a back-to-back due to Thatcher Demko's injury, is 4-0-3 against Chicago.

3. Blackhawks D Erik Gustafsson has three goals in the past two games.

PREDICTION: Blackhawks 4, Canucks 2