Game Recap: Lightning 2 - Blackhawks 1

Yes sir (or ma'am), you're getting the elusive weekend post. I'm dealing with some jet lag and woke up much earlier than my wife appreciates. So, I'm taking to the pen on this fine morning to talk some Blackhawks hockey.

Additionally—and this is where you can skip ahead to the recap while I talk shop—I'm looking to move back to more of these in-depth recaps. I'll be going away from SITREPs for now and focus on analysis. More updates to come on Monday as I get this site in shape.

One last note. I earmarked some plays I wanted to clip. Unfortunately, ESPN+ won't let you screengrab. So until I find a workaround, this is what I have.

The Game

The analytics heavily favored the Tampa Bay Lightning in this one. The Blackhawks had a 34.09% Corsi and a 26.27% expected goals share at 5v5. However, props to the Blackhawks for limiting scoring from the Bolts on the back-end of a back-to-back. The fact that the Hawks grabbed a point after taking another elite team to the shootout (the Hurricanes the night before) says something. Arvid Soderblom deserves a shoutout for his goaltending as well. Soderblom stopped 30 of 31 for a .968 SV%.

Tampa Bay is one of the hottest teams in the NHL right now. Prior to their game against Chicago, they were on a 14-game point streak. And they're without Brayden Point and Victor Hedman. Even then, all they had to do against Chicago was limit Connor Bedard, get pucks in deep, and pull Chicago defenders out of position.

Bedard had a disappointing night with zero shots on goal and one shot attempt. Sure, the Lightning had an easy time defending Bedard by rolling out Yanni' Gourde's line. But I observed Bedard forcing passes and trying to make plays with linemates who just aren't talented enough to finish. Bedard has shown that he is willing to be more selfish earlier in the season, but that wasn't the case last night. Again, Tampa's defense is worth mentioning.

Tampa Bay had an easy time picking apart the Hawks' defense. Pucks got deep in the Hawks' zone, and their defenders struggled to make clean exits. Artyom Levshunov, in particular, had a bad shift in the second period. He whiffed on a breakout attempt and passed the puck straight to the opposition, which prolonged Tampa's OZ time. It was easy for the Lightning to outcycle the Hawks and work the puck to the weakside, often with a pinching defenseman to shrink the zone.

Again, good on Soderblom for surviving Tampa's onslaught.

The Goals

Blackhawks 1 - Lightning 0: Ryan Greene (Assisted by Nick Lardis and Oliver Moore)

The opening goal of the game followed the Hawks' second attempt on the powerplay. Nick Lardis pulled two Bolts defenders with him as Ryan Greene skated to the net. Greene has been finding great areas in the OZ, but has struggled to finish. This was an opportunity he really couldn't have messed up.

Blackhawks 1 - Lightning 1: Nikita Kucherov (Assisted by Brandon Hagel and Anthony Cirelli)

It's hard to see what the weakside forward is doing, but in a hybrid man-on-man, they're supposed to be covering the high-slot. The Blackhawks have done this. But no one is covering the slot, which forces Louis Crevier to get sucked into Brandon Hagel and open space for Nikita Kucherov.

Former Blackhawks prospect Dominic James would win the shootout, sending the Blackhawks off to the night with one point.

Extra Observations

• Frank Nazar had a couple of good looks, and his speed was noticeable. Nazar had three shots on goal and six shot attempts.
• The Blackhawks' penalty kill deserves mention. They survived all three kills and weathered eight scoring chances.
• Let's give Nick Lardis and Bedard a look. Lardis was one of three Hawks who had an expected goals share over 50% (51.62%).
• The ESPN broadcast was brutal. I don't need to hear someone fumble their way through the Laurent Broissoit trade to explain goalie depth for the Hawks. That doesn't even make sense.

The Hawks take on a struggling Florida Panthers team tomorrow at 6 pm CT. Should have a recap for that out on Monday.