Chicago Blackhawks vs. Tampa Bay Lightning Prediction, Preview, Picks & Odds - 4/1/2022

Time: 7 p.m. ET

Venue: Amalie Arena, Tampa, FL

Where to watch: BSSUN, NBCSCH, SNP, SNE, TVAS

DraftKings: Lightning -330, Blackhawks +255

BetMGM: Lightning -300, Blackhawks +250

Caesars: Lightning -333, Blackhawks +260

Blackhawks: 24-34-10

Lightning: 42-18-6

Brandon Hagel revenge game on deck? Could possibly be, but it might not materialize all that much. We could just be looking at a dominant victory for the Tampa Bay Lightning as they host the torn-down Chicago Blackhawks fresh off trading nearly everyone at the trade deadline.

 

And more might be coming in the offseason given the fact that Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane might not want to stick around for a rebuild in Chicago, but alas, we are here and reality will soon come to hit the Chicago hockey team right in the face when all is said and done.

 

Chicago has lost three straight games, the most recent being a 4-0 loss on Thursday at the Florida Panthers. The Blackhawks coming in on the second night of a back-to-back after getting blitzed by one of the best teams in the league is not a good look.

 

It wouldn’t be that bad if not for the fact that the Blackhawks have two losses in this ledger on blown leads. They dropped a 3-0 lead to the Vegas Golden Knights last Saturday and eventually lost 5-4 in overtime, and then dropped a four-goal lead to the Buffalo Sabres and lost 6-5 in regulation off a game-winning goal from Tage Thompson with 10 seconds to go.

 

So of course they come back, in Toews’ 1,000th game, and get run out of the building. Despite the fact that Collin Delia stopped 40 shots, nothing was getting by Sergei Bobrovsky.

 

“We just couldn’t get it by their goalie. He stood on his head. We had numerous opportunities point blank and they just weren’t going in,” interim coach Derek King said. “They were coming back to the bench shaking their head.”

 

That’s not why they’re shaking their heads, Derek. They’re shaking their heads because this team is an abomination that has not gotten over the Kyle Beach drama and still finds itself playing horrendous hockey. It’s an organization that is tarnished by every sense of the word and yet the world still has to watch this team play 14 more games. Congrats on getting all the draft picks in the world from your moves at the deadline, moving Hagel and Marc-Andre Fleury for hopefully some useful assets, but sheesh, the only people that should be shaking their heads right now are Blackhawks fans that can’t go forward with watching this group.

 

And now you have to sit and watch this shell of a group go up against the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions that have won three in a row and are coming off a 4-3 win over the Carolina Hurricanes in overtime.

 

Steven Stamkos continues to defy logic and Father Time after a 3-point night, including the game-winning goal in overtime to remind people that the Lightning aren’t going anywhere in this dojo. Brayden Point added a goal and an assist, including the tying goal early in the third to set up this battle for the extra point.

 

“Obviously a big part of tonight's win was the power play and the penalty kill,” Stamkos said. “That's a really good team over there, and they've got good special teams as well. That was the difference-maker tonight."

 

Tampa Bay scored three times on the power play and its penalty kill dismantled three of Carolina’s penalties.

 

They might not be at the top of the league right now, but the world knows once this group gets to the playoffs, they’ll turn it on at the right time. The Florida Panthers are the ones sitting atop the Atlantic Division and the Eastern Conference. Even if the Stanley Cup Playoffs run through Sunrise, Florida, the world knows they have to go through Tampa at some point. The old dogs are not ready to give up the guard just yet.

Yeah, don’t overthink this one. I can’t imagine a world where the Blackhawks find the knack to score after getting blitzed by the Panthers the night before. Do we really expect the Blackhawks to find a way to score after going through Bobrovsky to now the best goalie on the planet? No, there’s absolutely no way. Give me the Lightning in a runaway. Lightning win 4-0

The Blackhawks are 51-71 in the second half of their season over the past three years.

The Blackhawks are 24-29 in non-conference games the past three seasons.

The Lightning are 13-19 the past three seasons after winning their previous game in overtime.

The Lightning are 37-23 in non-conference games the past three seasons.

Blackhawks:

Alex DeBrincat -- Dylan Strome -- Patrick Kane

Dominik Kubalik -- Jonathan Toews -- Taylor Raddysh

Philipp Kurashev -- Kirby Dach -- Sam Lafferty

Boris Katchouk -- Tyler Johnson -- Reese Johnson  

Calvin de Haan -- Caleb Jones

Jake McCabe -- Seth Jones

Riley Stillman -- Erik Gustafsson  

Kevin Lankinen

Lightning:

Steven Stamkos -- Brayden Point -- Nikita Kucherov

Ondrej Palat -- Anthony Cirelli -- Alex Killorn

Brandon Hagel -- Ross Colton -- Nicholas Paul

Pat Maroon -- Pierre-Edouard Bellemare -- Corey Perry

Victor Hedman -- Jan Rutta

Mikhail Sergachev -- Erik Cernak

Cal Foote -- Zach Bogosian

Andrei Vasilevskiy

Points: Patrick Kane -- 79

Goals: Alex DeBrincat -- 38

Assists: Patrick Kane -- 58

Goalie: Kevin Lankinen -- 4-9-5, 3.63 GAA, .886 SV%

Points: Steven Stamkos -- 73

Goals: Steven Stamkos -- 30

Assists: Victor Hedman -- 45

Goalie: Andrei Vasilevskiy -- 34-14-4, 2.38 GAA, .919 SV%