Tampa Bay Lightning at Chicago Blackhawks: game preview
Tampa BayLightning2026-27: 2-1-0 · 4 pts · 2025-26: 50-26-6 · 106 pts · 5that
ChicagoBlackhawks2026-27: 1-3-0 · 2 pts · 2025-26: 29-39-14 · 72 pts · 31stThirty-four points apart last season
Tampa Bay finished last season 5th in the league on 106 points. Chicago finished 31st on 72.
Game-day prices arrive with the afternoon snapshot, about 4:30 PM ET on the day of the game.
Meeting number 73
Across 72 completed games, Tampa Bay lead the head-to-head 42-23-7.
Last 5 meetings
See all: Last 5 meetings →The table on each 2025-26 meeting night
League rank after that night's games; a longer bar is a higher place. On 23 Oct 2025, Tampa Bay were 30th in the league and Chicago 11th. By 23 Jan 2026 it was 2nd and 27th.
Tampa Bay out-attempted Chicago 145 to 88
Every attempt from the last meetings, both teams shooting right.
Tampa Bay Lightning
Chicago Blackhawks
Tampa Bay have created the better chances, last 10 games
Shot quality both ways: expected goals weigh every unblocked attempt by its chance of scoring. Finishing above zero means more goals than the chances.
This season: 3 games for Tampa Bay, 4 for Chicago. Small sample: early-season xG moves a lot from night to night.
Last 10 games: 10 games for Tampa Bay, 10 for Chicago.
2025-26: 82 games for Tampa Bay, 82 for Chicago.
Power play and penalty kill, season and series
This season's rates first, then 2025-26 and the last meetings between the two. Power-play chances are counted from the penalty log with coincidental minors cancelled; faceoffs are each club's wins over draws taken.
All bars share one scale · 0–100%SeasonLast meetings
Tampa Bay
Small sampleChicago
Small sampleSkaters to watch
Each club's top three forwards and defencemen by points this season, with 2025-26 one tap away.
Who has stopped this matchup
Save percentage in the last meetings by goalie. Starters are confirmed on game day.
Tampa Bay crease
TBL · 2026-27 Starter estimate from 5 Mar
No appearances against Chicago in the last meetings.
Chicago crease
CHI · 2026-27 Starter estimate from 5 Mar
No appearances against Tampa Bay in the last meetings.
Scoring rates point to about 6.1 goals
No total is posted yet: it arrives with the game-day prices. Until then, the scoring rates and the recent meetings set the range.
Goals in the last 5 meetings
Bar length is total goals, coloured by the winner.
Scoring rates
Tampa Bay2.672.333.542.82
Chicago2.254.252.603.35Goals for and against per game. The estimate averages each team’s scoring with the other’s goals allowed, and leans on 2025-26 until a team has played 20 games.
6 on the injury lists
Tampa Bay · injuries
Chicago · injuries
Latest moves
See all: Latest moves →Placed C Jansen Harkins on waivers.
Placed D Michael Callahan on waivers.
Placed D Michael Callahan, G Mads Sogaard Nielsenon, LD Maxim Groshev, LW Jakob Pelletier and C Nicholas Abruzzese on waivers.
Assigned D Charles Alexis Legault to Chicago (AHL).
Agreed to terms with F Oliver Moore on a five-year contract extension. Loaned Fs Jiri felcman, Martin Misiak and Marek Vanacker and D Dylan Anhorn to Rockford (AHL). Assigned F Brett Seney to Rockford.
Placed D Derrick Pouliot on waivers.
Tampa Bay · 2026 draft
See all: Tampa Bay · 2026 draft →Chicago · 2026 draft
See all: Chicago · 2026 draft →Monday 8 March · the full slate
See all: Monday 8 March · the full slate →
Updated after every final