Preview: Lightning at Blackhawks

[January 24, 2017]  Captain Jonathan Toews hopes to build off his best offensive game of the season when his Chicago Blackhawks host the struggling Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night. Toews, who came into Sunday with three goals in his previous 26 contests, scored once and set up three others as the Blackhawks defeated Vancouver 4-2 for their third straight victory and seventh in the last nine games.

“It seems like he was around the puck way more and when he does that, usually good things happen,” Chicago coach Joel Quenneville told reporters of his captain, who is sixth on the team with 26 points (eight goals). The Blackhawks are tied with Minnesota for the most points in the Western Conference and Tampa Bay was expected to be at least near the top in the East, but injuries and uneven play have sent the Lightning tumbling to the bottom of the standings. Tampa Bay started its critical six-game road trip with a solid 2-1 victory at Los Angeles, but gained one point in three losses since after a disheartening 5-3 setback at Arizona on Saturday. “We know our playoff lives are on the line,” Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman told the Tampa Bay Times after the latest loss. “We can’t have an effort like this. It’s unacceptable.”

TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, FSN Sun (Tampa Bay), CSN Chicago

ABOUT THE LIGHTNING (21-22-5): Tampa Bay totaled 47 shots in the loss at Arizona, but had already fallen behind by four goals before attacking the net with force in the third period and scoring twice. Goalie Ben Bishop, who had been solid in his previous three starts since returning from an injury, gave up five goals on 17 shots Saturday and Andrei Vasilevskiy could get the nod Tuesday after stopping 56-of-60 shots in his last three outings. Right wing Nikita Kucherov leads the team with 42 points while managing only a pair of assists and zero goals over the last five contests.

ABOUT THE BLACKHAWKS (30-14-5): Goalie Corey Crawford turned aside 26 of the 28 shots Sunday for his 200th NHL victory and improved his save percentage in January to .891. “We gave him some good looks where he could feel comfortable again, and he had some great plays in close from post to post on their power plays, especially in the second (period),” Toews told reporters. “He was finding (the puck) all night.” Marian Hossa had a goal Sunday to tie Artem Anisimov (18) for the team lead and Patrick Kane (team-best 48 points) scored three times in the last four contests.

OVERTIME

1. Chicago RW Richard Panik, who started in the NHL with the Lightning before being lost on waivers, matched his career high with his 11th goal Sunday.

2. Tampa Bay D Anton Stralman needs one point to reach 200 in his career and is 12 games from his 600th in the NHL.

3. A total of four goals were scored in two meetings last season with each winning at home.

PREDICTION: Blackhawks 4, Lightning 2

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