The Chicago Blackhawks are 3-2-2 after their first seven games of the season. In all areas of the game, they are a much better hockey team than they’ve been over the last half-decade.
Now, as they are preparing to wrap up October in a big way, they have a road tilt with the Tampa Bay Lightning. This is a big test for Chicago, as they will be facing a Lightning team that’s off to a horrific start, but they have Stanley Cup aspirations.
Scouting Tampa Bay
At 1-3-2, the Lightning’s four standings points has them in dead last of the Eastern Conference entering play on Thursday. There is no doubt that this doesn’t sit well with them, as they entered the season believing that they will once again be near the top of the Atlantic Division.
Guentzel-Point-Goncalves
Hagel-Cirelli-Kucherov
Bjorkstrand-Gourde-Holmberg
Douglas-James-Chaffee
Hedman-Moser
McDonagh-Cernak
Lilleberg-Raddysh
Ahead of this game, the Lightning called up Dominic James, who will make his NHL debut in this game after a great start in the AHL. James, of course, was drafted by the Chicago Blackhawks in the 6th round of the 2022 NHL Draft.
After finishing his career at the University of Minnesota Duluth, James decided not to sign with Chicago and go to Tampa Bay. He believed that he had a better path to an NHL job with Tampa Bay than he did with Chicago.
Andrei Vasilevskiy is projected to be in the net for the Lightning. In front of him is a skater group loaded with superstars who have all won Stanley Cups. Nikita Kucherov, Jake Guentzel, Brayden Point, Brandon Hagel, Anthony Cirelli, Victor Hedman, and Ryan McDonagh form a core that comes into every season believing that they can win it all.
With the lackluster start that this group has had, expect them to come to play at a high level in their home barn.
Projected Lines, Defense Pairs, and Starting Goalie
Spencer Knight is expected to go against the Lightning. In front of him, the lines and defense pairs are expected to look something like this:
Reichel-Bedard-Bertuzzi
Teravainen-Nazar-Mikheyev
Lafferty-Greene-Donato
Slaggert-Foligno-Dach
Vlasic-Rinzel
Kaiser-Levshunov
Grzelcyk-Murphy
Crevier
Once again, expect the Blackhawks to dress 11/7, meaning one of those forwards is going to be a healthy scratch.
Jason Dickinson is still working his way back from an injury, while Andre Burakovsky and his wife just welcomed their second-born into the world on Monday. Neither of them is expected to play.
Based on how things have gone for the Blackhawks this year as far as lineup decisions, Sam Lafferty is the player most likely to view the game from the press box.
Ryan Donato has goals in three straight games. If Lafferty is scratched and Donato plays with Greene, expect Connor Bedard or Frank Nazar to be double-shifted on that line throughout the contest. That would certainly help Donato in his quest to make it four straight.
With some of the absences in the forward group, these lines will give the team a new look for at least one game. If anything clicks as far as chemistry, it could create lines that stick around for a while.
Jeff Blashill has spent the last handful of years as an assistant coach with the Tampa Bay Lightning, so this is his return to the team that helped him work his way back to the head coaching ranks.
How To Watch
This game will begin a bit earlier than usual, even for an eastern time zone match. It will begin just after 5:45 central time. It can be viewed as an ESPN+/Hulu exclusive and heard on WGN Radio 720.
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