Blackhawks' Patrick Kane (Image: Getty)
The Tampa Bay Lightning will continue their home-stand Friday night by hosting the Chicago Blackhawks.
The game will start at 7:30 p.m. EST and will air on NBC Sports.
Tampa Bay head coach Jon Cooper revealed this week that two minor changes were made to the team’s top two lines: powerful pair Nikita Kucherov and Steven Stamkos will now be on different lines. Since this change was made, the Lightning (15-6-1, 1st in Atlantic Division) beat the Florida Panthers 7-3 at home on Wednesday behind a combined two goals and seven points.
“We shook the lines up a little bit and it seemed to give everybody a little energy,” Cooper told Fox Sports. “But (Stamkos) was seeing it, he was feeling it a little bit. He earned all the breaks he was getting, and he was making some fabulous plays out there and that’s probably why he ends up with four points.”
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Meanwhile, the Blackhawks (8-9-5) are sixth in the Central Division. Chicago replaced its head coach on Nov. 6: Jeremy Colliton took over for Joel Quenneville. Since then, the team has only won two of their seven games.
Despite boasting top players like Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews and Brandon Saad, the Blackhawks are one of the lowest-scoring teams in the NHL (2.64 goals per game on average).
Chicago is coming off a 4-2 road loss to the Washington Capitals on Wednesday, which started with them trailing 1-0 just 54 seconds into the game. Corey Crawford made 23 saves for the Blackhawks that day.
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