Chicago Blackhawks (15-28-4, 34 pts) vs Tampa Bay Lightning (25-18-3, 53 pts)
7:00 p.m. CT – United Center
TV: CHSN (Ball/Pang)
Radio: WGN 720 AM (Wiedeman/Murray)
Remember ten years ago when the Chicago Blackhawks and Tampa Bay Lightning faced each other in the Stanley Cup Final? Yeah, that was TEN years ago now and the Lightning continue to be one of the top teams in the NHL, while the Blackhawks are right in the middle of their rebuilding process.
That was the last time the Blackhawks had won a Stanley Cup Playoff series and it was also the last time they beat Tampa goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy. In 13 career regular season games against the Blackhawks, Vasilevskiy holds a perfect 13-0-0 record with a career .930 save-percentage and one shutout. Chicago is one of two teams Vasilevskiy has never lost in regulation to, the other being the Seattle Kraken with a 5-0-0 record.
Hoping to solve Vasilevskiy for the first time will be Connor Bedard and his top line mates Tyler Bertuzzi and Frank Nazar. That trio has played three games together with 33:46 minutes at 5v5 and while their underlying numbers aren’t incredible at 5v5, one stands out. They have a 42.1 Corsi-For percentage and a 47.7 Shots-For percentage, but have been on the ice at 5v5 for four goals for and just one against in their time together.
Early returns on Bedard playing with Bertuzzi at 5v5 and on the powerplay have been impactful. Bertuzzi has five points over his last three games and is third in the NHL in goals scored (9) since December 21.
Making his season-debut tonight on the blue-line will be Ethan Del Mastro. He enters the lineup alongside Nolan Allan, who re-enters the lineup with T.J. Brodie sitting and Wyatt Kasier being sent to the Rockford IceHogs.
Del Mastro making the move up from Rockford, where he tallied eight assists in 38 games this season (far below his production pace from his rookie season with 37 points in 69 AHL games), is another move in a line of young players coming up to the NHL and getting opportunities to stick in the lineup. Del Mastro can be added to the list with Nazar, Allan, Kevin Korchinski, and Colton Dach of players who the Blackhawks believe will be parts of the future of the organization that we have been able to see play in the NHL this year. That, at the very least, makes this Blackhawks team more interesting to watch.
On last note on the blue-line, Seth Jones enters tonight on a season-long four-game point streak with a goal and four assists in that stretch of games.
Season Series
1/24/25 vs TBL
1/28/25 at TBL
Blackhawks Team Leaders
G-Tyler Bertuzzi (17)
A-Connor Bedard (28)
P-Connor Bedard (41)
PPG-Tyler Bertuzzi (8)
SOG-Connor Bedard (112)
PIM-Pat Maroon (65)
Lightning Team Leaders
G-Brayden Point (27)
A-Nikita Kucherov (48)
P-Nikita Kucherov (70)
PPG-Brayden Point (12)
SOG-Nikita Kucherov (154)
PIM-Emil Lilleberg (74)
Blackhawks Team Stats
GF/G-2.60 (31st)
GA/G-3.43 (29th)
PP%-23.9 (9th)
PK%-83.0 (5th)
SOG/G-25.1 (32nd)
SA/G-31.2 (30th)
FO%-44.8 (30th)
PIM/G-8:33 (20th)
Lightning Team Stats
GF/G-3.61 (1st)
GA/G-2.83 (10th)
PP%-26.7 (6th)
PK%-81.2 (11th)
SOG/G-28.7 (13th)
SA/G-28.7 (18th)
FO%-50.2 (19th)
PIM/G-8:45 (21st)
Blackhawks Probable Lines
Forwards
Frank Nazar-Connor Bedard-Tyler Bertuzzi
Teuvo Teräväinen-Jason Dickinson-Ilya Mikheyev
Colton Dach-Lukas Reichel-Nick Foligno
Taylor Hall-Ryan Donato-Philipp Kurashev
Defensemen
Alex Vlasic-Louis Crevier
Alec Martinez-Seth Jones
Nolan Allan-Ethan Del Mastro
Scratched:
Pat Maroon, T.J. Brodie
Injured:
Laurent Brossoit (knee), Connor Murphy (OUT), Craig Smith (IR)
Lightning Probable Lines
Forwards
Brandon Hagel-Anthony Cirelli-Nikita Kucherov
Jake Guentzel-Brayden Point-Michael Eyssimont
Zegmus Girgenson-Nick Paul-Conor Geekie
Mitchell Chaffee-Luke Glendening-Cam Atkinson
Defensemen
Victor Hedman-Darren Raddysh
Ryan McDonagh-Maxwell Crozier
Emil Lilleberg-Nick Perbix
Scratched
N/A
Injured
J.J. Moser (IR), Erik Cernak (DTD)
Probable Goaltending Matchup
Arvid Söderblom (6-11-2, .907 SV%, 2.92 GAA, 0 SO) vs Andrei Vasilevskiy (20-14-2, .914 SV%, 2.37 GAA, 2 SO)
