Thursday, March 28, 2024
Fantasy Guru - Baseball

NHL Preview: Chicago Blackhawks (22-37-6) at Tampa Bay Lightning (38-21-6)

CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS NOTES:

TONIGHT’S BROADCAST INFORMATION
TV: NBCSCH – Chris Vosters (PxP) and Patrick Sharp (analyst)
RADIO: WGN-AM 720 – John Wiedeman (PxP) and Troy Murray (analyst)

UPCOMING SCHEDULE
Tuesday, March 14 vs. BOS, 7:30 p.m. CT (NBCSCH, WGN Radio, Univision (Spanish))
Thursday, March 16 at NSH, 7:00 p.m. CT (ESPN+/Hulu, WGN Radio)
Saturday, March 18 at ARI, 9:30 p.m. CT (NBCSCH+, WGN Radio)
Monday, March 20 at COL, 8:00 p.m. CT (NBCSCH+, WGN Radio)
Thursday, March 23 at WSH, 6:00 p.m. CT (NBCSCH, WGN Radio)

RECENT TRANSACTIONS
March 9 – Recalled Filip Roos from Rockford … March 3 – Recalled Anders Bjork from Rockford … Activated MacKenzie Entwistle from IR … Activated Nikita Zaitsev from non-roster … Assigned David Gust, Brett Seney and Isaak Phillips to Rockford … March 2 – Recalled Lukas Reichel from Rockford

LAST TIME OUT
Score: Chicago (3) at Florida (4) – OT – Fri., March 10 – FLA Live Arena
CHI Goals: Jones (3), Katchouk (3), Guttman (4)
FLA Goals: Bennett (16), Reinhart (22; PP), Luostarinen (16), Montour (12; OT)
Goalies: CHI – Mrazek (39/43, 60:36) FLA – Bobrovsky (21/24, 62:25)
CHI PP: 0/6; PK: 1/4
FLA PP: 1/4; PK: 6/6
Recap: The Blackhawks fell to the Florida Panthers 4-3 in overtime on Friday … Cole Guttman scored his fourth goal of the season in the final minute of the third period to send the game to overtime … Jujhar Khaira notched two assists for his first multi-point effort of the season … Caleb Jones skated in his 200th career NHL game, scoring a goal … Boris Katchouk also scored in a milestone game, the 100th of his career … Petr Mrazek made 39 saves.

TONIGHT’S OPPONENT – TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING
The Blackhawks and Lightning face off in the last of two matchups this season … Chicago is 0-1-0 against the Bolts this season … The Blackhawks dropped a 4-1 decision to the Lightning on Jan. 3 … Seth Jones scored the lone goal for the Blackhawks … He has points (1G, 2A) over his last three games and five points (2G, 3A) over his last seven … Tyler Johnson won back-to-back Stanley Cups with the Lightning in 2020 and 2021 … Both Taylor Raddysh (44th overall) and Boris Katchouk (58th overall) were drafted by Tampa in the 2016 NHL Draft.

2022-23 Schedule/Results: HOME: Jan. 3 (1-4) | AWAY: March 11 
All-Time Record: 19-24-13 Home: 13-12-4 Road: 6-12-9
Last Home Win: March 5, 2021 (4-3 SO) Last Road Win: Feb. 27, 2020 (5-2) Last Home Loss: Jan. 3, 2023
(1-4) Last Road Loss: April 1, 2022 (2-5)

ACTIVE BLACKHAWKS VS. TBL ALL-TIME
GOALS: Seth Jones, 4; Connor Murphy, 2; Austin Wagner, 2
ASSISTS: Nikita Zaitsev, 7; Seth Jones, 6; Connor Murphy, 2
POINTS: Seth Jones, 10; Nikita Zaitsev, 7; Connor Murphy, 4

BLACKHAWKS RECORD ON…
One-Day Rest: 13-16-1
Two-Days Rest: 4-4-0
Three+ Days Rest: 2-2-2
First Game of a B2B: 2-6-2
Second Game of a B2B: 1-9-1

BLACKHAWKS RECORD BY DAY
Monday: 1-2-0
Tuesday: 3-8-1
Wednesday: 1-7-0
Thursday: 4-5-1
Friday: 5-2-2
Saturday: 5-7-1
Sunday: 3-6-1

TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING NOTES:

LAST GAME
Lightning 3 vs. Vegas 4 (OT)
The Tampa Bay Lightning collected one point in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Vegas Golden Knights March 9 at AMALIE Arena…The Bolts wrapped up the season series vs. VGK with a 0-1-1 record…Tampa Bay fell to 38-21-6 on the season with a home record of 23-5-5…Keegan Kolesar opened the scoring just 27 seconds into the first period to give VGK an early 1-0 lead…The Lightning responded with a quick answer just 4:01 later when Steven Stamkos sent a pass to Nikita Kucherov, who fired a shot on Jonathan Quick before Brayden Point jumped on the rebound and buried his team-leading 40th goal of the season…After a scoreless middle frame, William Karlsson scored a shorthanded goal 2:27 into the third period to give VGK a 2-1 lead…Chandler Stephenson added a power-play goal just 3:12 later and put VGK up 3-1…With Andrei Vasilevskiy pulled for an extra attacker, the Bolts got back within one when Kucherov hammered home a one-timer off a pass from Mikhail Sergachev as Point recorded the secondary helper with 2:07 remaining…After Stephenson was whistled for high-sticking at the 19:14 mark of the third, Tampa Bay had a 6-on-4 advantage and tied the game when Point scored his second goal of the game off assists from Kucherov and Sergachev with 27.7 seconds remaining…Alec Martinez scored the game-winning goal 3:09 into overtime to give VGK the 4-3 win…Vasilevskiy made 17 saves in the loss.
PP: TBL – 1-5 VGK – 1-2
SOG: TBL – 37 VGK – 21
Attendance: 19,092

TONIGHT’S MATCHUP
The Lightning and Blackhawks are playing the second of two matchups this season and the only meeting at AMALIE Arena…The Bolts are 1-0-0 vs. CHI this season after a 4-1 win Jan. 3 at United Center…Seth Jones opened the scoring for CHI with a power-play goal at the 4:50 mark of the first period…Pat Maroon answered for Tampa Bay with his second goal of the season when he redirected a pass from Victor Hedman past Alex Stalock with 8:36 remaining in the opening period…After a scoreless middle frame, the Bolts made it a 2-1 game at the 7:11 mark of the third period with Alex Killorn taking a pass from Brandon Hagel and beating Stalock for his 12th goal of the season…Hagel scored a power-play goal just 3:13 later with Brayden Point and Steven Stamkos recording the assists to extend the Lightning’s lead to 3-1…Nick Paul added an empty-net goal with 1:06 remaining with Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and Hedman picking up the helpers…Brian Elliott got the start in goal for Tampa Bay and made 25 saves on 26 shots…Stamkos has picked up points and assists in six straight games vs. CHI (2-6—8)…Stamkos has pointed in nine of his last 10 games vs. CHI (5-9—14)…Stamkos has picked up points in 11 of his 13 career home games vs. CHI (15-10—25), including points and assists in five straight (4-6—10) with four multi-point efforts during that span…Nikita Kucherov has recorded points in five of his last six games vs. CHI (2-8—10) with four multi-point efforts during that span…Kucherov has recorded three consecutive multi-point games at home vs. CHI (1-6—7)…Point is riding a five-game point streak vs. CHI (3-5—8) and has picked up points in 15 of his 18 career games vs. CHI (9- 14—23)…Point has found the scoresheet in seven of his last eight home games vs. CHI (6-5—11)…Hagel has scored a goal in both games vs. CHI since being acquired by Tampa Bay at last year’s trade deadline (2-1—3)…Killorn has points in nine of his last 11 games vs. CHI (8-6—14)…Ross Colton has scored three goals in three career home games vs. CHI (3-1—4)…Paul has picked up four points in two games vs. CHI since being acquired by the Lightning at last year’s trade deadline (1-3—4)…Hedman has points in seven of his last nine games vs. CHI (4-9—13) with five multi-point efforts during that span…Hedman has picked up points in 10 of his 14 career home games vs. CHI (2-16— 18)…Andrei Vasilevskiy is 13-0-0 in 13 career starts vs. CHI with one shutout, a .930 save percentage, 2.14 goals against average and two assists…Vasilevskiy’s 13-game win streak vs. CHI to start his career is tied for the third-longest win streak vs. a single opponent to start a career in NHL history…The Bolts have won seven straight games vs. CHI and picked up points in 27 of the last 28 meetings…Tampa Bay has won five straight home games vs. CHI and 13 of the last 14 meetings at AMALIE Arena…The Lightning have scored four or more goals in seven straight contests vs. CHI (total: 36 goals)…The Bolts have scored three or more goals in 13 of the last 15 home games vs. CHI (total: 60 goals)…Tampa Bay is 9-1-0 in their last 10 home games vs. CHI and 9-0-1 in the last 10 meetings overall…The Lightning are 33-15-4 with five ties all-time vs. CHI, including a home record of 18-5-1 with three ties…Stamkos (16- 16—32) holds the Tampa Bay franchise records for career goals and points vs. CHI.

TBL ALL-TIME POINT LEADERS VS. CHI

  1. Steven Stamkos – 32 pts. (16-16—32, 26 GP)
  2. Victor Hedman – 29 pts. (6-23—29, 27 GP)
  3. Brayden Point – 23 pts. (9-14—23, 18 GP)
  4. Alex Killorn – 20 pts. (8-12—20, 24 GP)
  5. Martin St. Louis – 19 pts. (8-11—19, 15 GP)

TONIGHT’S STORYLINES
Tampa Bay is playing the third game of a four-game homestand tonight…The Bolts will play eight of their 16 games in March on home ice…The Lightning are 11-2-1 against Central Division opponents and 20-7-3 against the Western Conference this season…Tampa Bay has scored three or more goals in 13 of their last 14 home games (total: 60 goals)…Tampa Bay has scored a power-play goal in 13 of their last 14 home games.

INJURIES
2022-23 Regular Season Man Games Lost: 101
Current Injuries:
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare (Lower-body injury; Day-to-day) 2 Games
Victor Hedman (Upper-body injury; Day-to-day) 2 Games

TRANSACTIONS
March 4 – Recalled D Darren Raddysh from AHL Syracuse
March 3 – Re-assigned D Darren Raddysh to AHL Syracuse
March 2 – Recalled D Darren Raddysh from AHL Syracuse

HOME COOKING
The Lightning are 23-5-5 at home this season with a .773 points percentage, trailing only Boston (.859) for the NHL lead…Tampa Bay has scored three or more goals in 13 of their last 14 games at AMALIE Arena and 28 of 33 home games overall…The Bolts are averaging over four goals per game on home ice for the second time in franchise history at 4.06 GF/GP (also: 4.02 GF/GP, 2018-19) and are the only team in the NHL averaging more than four goals per game at home…Tampa Bay’s power play is clicking at a 32% conversion rate on home ice, the second-best among all NHL teams, trailing only Edmonton (32.3%)…Since Dec. 1, the Lightning have given up just seven power-play goals on 60 attempts at AMALIE Arena, good for an 88.3 PK%, the second-best home penalty kill percentage in the NHL during that span, trailing only BOS (90%).

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