NEWSLETTER
It’s Thursday, and the Blackhawks are playing the Tampa Bay Lightning. The good news for me is I can cut & paste that into next week’s pregame notes because, after playing in Florida tonight, the Bolts will be at the United Center one week from today for a rematch. Because the NHL apparently thought the Blackhawks should play home-and-homes with half of their schedule this season with quick turnarounds (see the Florida Panthers back-to-back weekends).
The two games against Tampa mean a little more, though. I cited this quote from Luke Richardson in this morning’s Bullets because it speaks to how he and the front office view the pedigree of the Lightning. They are one of the measuring sticks the Blackhawks are using for their rebuild, so this one has some significance to the suits as much as the jerseys.
“They’re winners and they have the killer instinct at the right times and that’s something we have to learn,” Richardson said Wednesday. “You can’t take the foot off the pedal if we have a goal lead or a two-goal lead or four-goal lead on them. They sometimes can play loose, too, but they have the ability to kind fo turn that back on. I don’t think we’re there yet, so we have to make sure we’re on from the start of the game to the finish and play aggressive against them. You have to respect them going into the game but once you’re playing against them, you don’t give them respect by giving them time, space and room, because they’re very dangerous that way.”
Broadcast Info
Puck Drop: 6:00 PM CT
TV: NBC Sports Chicago
Radio: WGN 720 AM
Expected Lineups
Chicago Blackhawks
Nick Foligno — Connor Bedard — Philipp Kurashev
Lukas Reichel — Andreas Athanasiou — Taylor Raddysh
Taylor Hall — Jason Dickinson — Tyler Johnson
Ryan Donato — MacKenzie Entwistle — Corey Perry
Alex Vlasic — Seth Jones
Kevin Korchinski — Connor Murphy
Wyatt Kaiser — Jarred Tinordi
🥅 Petr Mrazek
Tampa Bay Lightning
Brandon Hagel – Brayden Point – Nikita Kucherov
Steven Stamkos – Nicholas Paul – Alex Barré-Boulet
Tanner Jeannot – Anthony Cirelli – Michael Eyssimont
Tyler Motte – Luke Glendening – Austin Watson
Victor Hedman – Erik Cernak
Mikhail Sergachev – Darren Raddysh
Calvin de Haan – Nick Perbix
🥅 Jonas Johansson
Injury Report
Chicago Blackhawks
Tampa Bay Lightning
