{coyotes} Blackhawks minus Kane, Oduya against Coyotes

Friday, 7 February 2014

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Two of the 10 Chicago Blackhawks headed to the 2014 Sochi Olympics won't be in the lineup when the team ends a six-game road trip and the pre-Olympic portion of its schedule Saturday against the Phoenix Coyotes.

U.S. Olympian Patrick Kane, the team's leading scorer with 63 points, will miss his second straight game as he attends the funeral of his grandfather in Buffalo. Defenseman Johnny Oduya, who will play for Sweden in Sochi, will miss his second game with a lower-body injury.

Without those two players the Blackhawks beat the Anaheim Ducks 2-0 on Wednesday to improve to 3-0-2 on the trip. Corey Crawford, coming off his first shutout of the season, will be in goal as the Blackhawks attempt to jump ahead of the slumping Ducks and back atop the Western Conference standings.

The Coyotes will make a few changes Friday. Tim Kennedy, who cleared waivers recently and has sat out three of the past four games, will return to the lineup to skate with center Mike Ribeiro and David Moss. Rob Klinkhammer, who hasn't scored since Jan. 7 and has been a healthy scratch four times during that span, likely will move to the fourth line after Paul Bissonnette saw only two first-period shifts and watched the rest of the 3-1 loss to the Dallas Stars on Wednesday.

Here are the lineups the teams likely will use Friday:

BLACKHAWKS

Patrick Sharp - Jonathan Toews - Marian Hossa

Kris Versteeg - Michal Handzus - Brandon Saad

Bryan Bickell - Brandon Pirri - Andrew Shaw

Brandon Bollig - Marcus Kruger - Ben Smith

Duncan Keith - Brent Seabrook

Sheldon Brookbank - Niklas Hjalmarsson

Nick Leddy - Michal Rozsival

Corey Crawford

Antti Raanta

Scratched: Michael Kostka, Patrick Kane