Chicago Blackhawks need to finally beat Tampa Bay Lightning
The Chicago Blackhawks are about to play the Tampa Bay Lightning tonight. This team has given them fits since the 2015 Stanley Cup Final.
The Chicago Blackhawks are not going to the playoffs. They are on a devastating skid right now that has seen them be sellers at the trade deadline. It is unfortunate but that is the way it is. With that said, they can try and play well enough to be a spoiler for the rest of the season. They still have great players at the top of their lineup so there is no reason opponents should be excited to play them.
Their next test is another one of the elite teams in the National Hockey League. The Tampa Bay Lightning were a bit shaky to start the season but have re-emerged as one of the Stanley Cup favorites. With an elite player or two at every position along with tons of depth, Tampa being an elite team makes complete sense.
They are led at forward by some absolute studs. Steven Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov, and Brayden Point are some of the league’s best offensive players. Then there are some great depth guys like Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat, and Blake Coleman. Their defense is as good as ever led by Victor Hedman and Ryan McDonagh. Then, to top it all off is an elite goalie named Andrei Vasilevskiy.
On top of all those great players is pure regular season domination against Chicago. The Hawks are 0-6-2 in their last eight meetings against the Lightning. They are an abysmal 1-6-2 since defeating the Lightning in the 2015 Stanley Cup Final. Since that series, the Lightning has gotten better while the Hawks have gotten worse. Obviously, the Hawks won those three Stanley Cups so paying for it now isn’t all that bad although the momentum could have been carried on if the GM made better decisions.
Related Story. Three things we learned about Chicago at the trade deadline. light
This game means a lot for Tampa Bay in terms of their Atlantic Division title race and almost nothing for the Blackhawks. All that matters at this point is the right guys feeling well about their games going into next year and being motivated enough to try and play spoiler against a really good team.