The Tampa Bay Lightning and the Chicago Blackhawks meet in NHL action from the United Center on Thursday night.
Lightning Fall Again
The Tampa Bay Lightning will be looking to rebound from a 5-0 loss at the hands of the St. Louis Blues in their last matchup, being shut out in back-to-back games. Nikita Kucherov leads the Lightning in scoring with 23 points including a team-high 11 goals and 12 assists while Brayden Point has 6 goals and 12 assists for his 18 points. Victor Hedman’s added 17 points with 14 assists while Brandon Hagel and Steven Stamkos each have 15 points with Hagel logging 7 goals with 8 assists while Stamkos has 10 assists as well. Nicholas Paul also has 9 points with 7 goals this season. Jonas Johansson has gone 5-4-4 with a 3.47 GAA and an .896 save percentage while Matt Tomkins is 1-2 with a 3.40 GAA and an .889 save percentage this season.
Tampa Bay Lightning Team Facts
- The Lightning have lost four of their last five games as favorites.
- The Lightning have covered the puck line in eight of their last nine games as favorites against the Blackhawks.
- The home team has won the third period in nine of the Lightning's last 10 games.
- The 'Over 1.5 Goals Period 3' market has hit in each of the Lightning's last eight games at United Center.
Blackhawks Struggling With Consistency
The Chicago Blackhawks come into this one looking to find some consistency, alternating wins and losses in each of their last 7 games after a 4-3 loss to Florida last time out. Connor Bedard leads the Blackhawks with 13 points including a team-high 9 goals along with 4 assists while Corey Perry has 8 points with 3 goals and 5 assists and Nick Foligno has 8 points as well with 2 goals and 6 assists. Ryan Donato has 7 points with 3 goals and 4 assists and Tyler Johnson has 6 points with 4 goals as well. Seth Jones also has a team-high 6 assists as well on the year. Petr Mrazek has gone 4-3 with a 2.84 GAA and a .921 save percentage in goal for the Blackhawks while Arvid Soderblom is 1-5 with a 3.99 GAA and an .881 save percentage this season.
Chicago Blackhawks Team Facts
- The Blackhawks have won five of their last six games as home underdogs against Atlantic Division opponents.
- The favorites have covered the puck line in eight of the last nine games between the Lightning and Blackhawks.
- The Blackhawks have lost the third period in each of their last seven night games.
- The 'Over 2.5 Goals Period 1' market has hit in each of the Blackhawks' last six games.
Matchup/League Facts
- The Chicago Blackhawks ranks 28th in the league in power play percentage this season (10.87%).
- The Chicago Blackhawks ranks 27th in the league for goals per game this season (2.62).
- The Tampa Bay Lightning ranks 29th in the league for goals against per game this season (3.69).
- The Tampa Bay Lightning ranks 4th in the league in power play percentage this season (30.19%).
Chris’ Pick
I’m rolling with the over here. I just can’t trust either of these teams defensively right now with questionable goaltending, and while the Lightning have been shut out in back-to-back games, we know what this team is fully capable of. On the other side of the coin, Chicago’s been scoring a bit more consistently as of late and these two teams just combined for 8 goals when they last met a week ago, so give me another over in this one.
