Game day: Leafs at Blackhawks

UNITED CENTER

FACEOFF: 8 p.m. TV: Sportsnet RADIO: Sportsnet 590 The FAN

KEY PLAYERS

Kadri/Kane Leaf Nazem Kadri will likely draw the checking assignment on Patrick Kane, who leads the Blackhawks in scoring and remains one of the most dangerous offensive players in the NHL. Kadri performed another admirable checking job on Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon in Monday’s loss to the Avalanche, holding the NHL’s second-leading scorer pointless.

NEED TO KNOW

The Blackhawks are last in the Central Division and playoff contention is slipping away. With top goalie Corey

Crawford still out indefinitely, reportedly with vertigo, and the offence cold they’re in danger of missing the post-season after nine consecutive appearances — including three Stanley Cups and two more trips to the conference final . . . The Hawks have lost three in a row and trailed every team in their division by at least seven points heading into Tuesday night’s action. They were also seven points out of a wild-card berth . . . They have scored just six goals in their last five games, four of them losses. In Monday’s 2-0 loss to Tampa, Chicago outshot the powerhouse Lightning 17-5 in the second period and had a four-minute power play but failed to score … Good news on the injury front: forward Artem Anisimov returned Monday after missing 10 games with an upper-body injury. UP NEXT Thursday at Dallas Stars, 8:30 p.m. Mark Zwolinski