Tampa Bay Lightning vs Chicago Blackhawks

The Tampa Bay Lightning head to Chicago for a matchup with the Chicago Blackhawks Friday night January 23rd at 6:00 pm. The Lightning enter Friday’s contest with a record of 31-13-4 in 1st place of the Atlantic Division. The Blackhawks enter Friday’s game with a 20-22-7 record placing them in 6th place of the Central Division.

The Lightning and Blackhawks played each other back on October 23rd where we saw the Blackhawks win that game 3-2. The Lightning were in a slump when they played previously, so we will see how this matchup goes with Tampa having a 14 game point streak at stake. The Blackhawks won their previous game against the Winnipeg Jets on a special night where Jonathon Toews returned to the United Center in an opposing team sweater.

The Chicago Blackhawks are a young and upcoming team who have a very promising future with Connor Bedard leading the charge at a very young age. The talent doesn’t stop there with just Bedard . Frank Nazar, Oliver Moore, Artyom Levshunov, Nick Lardis , and Spencer Knight are just some of the younger talent that the Blackhawks have currently and will continue to bring up talent from their deep prospect pool. It’s incredible to see how well that the Blackhawks are able to execute an incredible draft every year.

Frank Nazar and Connor Bedard via CHGO Sports

There are several changes to both teams in this game then there were back in October. We will have to wait and see who’s in goal for the Blackhawks. The Blackhawks will most likely have Arvid Soderblom in net Friday against the Lightning. The Blackhawks will be without Teuvo Teravainen (upper body), and possibly Andre Burakovsky (illness). The Lightning on the other hand will be without several players including:

• Brayden Point (lower body)

• Victor Hedman (elbow)

• Ryan Mcdonagh (lower body)

• Anthony Cirelli (undisclosed) who’s a game time decision.

The Goalie Matchup for Friday’s game is looking to be Andrei Vasilevskiy for the Lightning, and Arvid Soderblom for the Blackhawks. Vasilevskiy will enter Friday’s game 21-7 with a .917 save percentage and a 2.18 goals against average. Soderblom will enter Friday’s game 5-8 with a .868 save percentage and a 3.97 goals against average.