Tampa Bay @ Chicago preview

Last Meeting ( Nov 23, 2018 ) Chicago 2, Tampa Bay 4

The Tampa Bay Lightning are still finding their way after a historic 2018-19 regular season and look to avoid a third consecutive loss when they visit the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday night. The Lightning looked like they were building something with three wins in a row, capped by a nine-goal explosion against the New York Rangers, but dropped the last two games versus Winnipeg and St. Louis.

“We turned the puck over a lot, and they’re a team that’ll wear you down, just wear you down and wear you down below the top of the circles,” Tampa Bay forward Pat Maroon told reporters after a 4-2 loss against the Blues on Tuesday. “. … We’ve got to be better. I don’t know what else to say anymore. This team’s got to be better. We’ve got to figure out. … how to play the right way, just manage the puck a little better, attention to detail.” The Lightning hope to gain some momentum back when they go for an eighth straight victory over the Blackhawks, who had put together a 6-1-2 run before suffering a 4-2 loss to Carolina on Tuesday. “We came out and worked, and I guess you’re bound to have a game like that where (you) play a lot of games, a lot of travel, all those things,” Chicago captain Jonathan Toews told reporters. “You got to find ways to get your energy from the get-go, even if you’re not feeling it 100 percent.” Patrick Kane stretched his point streak to 10 games with a pair of assists Tuesday for the Blackhawks and leads the team with 11 goals and 28 points.

TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, FS Sun (Tampa Bay), NBCS Chicago

ABOUT THE LIGHTNING (9-7-2): Reigning Hart Trophy winner Nikita Kucherov (six goals, 18 points) left Tuesday’s game after taking a big hit from St. Louis’ Brayden Schenn and is questionable with an upper-body injury. Captain Steven Stamkos leads the team with seven goals and 20 points while former Norris Trophy winner Victor Hedman had an assist Tuesday to extend his point streak to five games (two goals, six assists) and boasts 17 points. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 31 saves Tuesday and remains tied with Ben Bishop for the franchise lead with 131 victories.

ABOUT THE BLACKHAWKS (9-8-4): Right wing Alex DeBrincat had an assist Tuesday and owns seven in the past five games to sit second on the team with 17 points - one ahead of center Dylan Strome (four goals). Center Kirby Dach, the third overall pick in last June’s draft, had an assist against Carolina and the 18-year-old boasts four goals to go along with seven points and a plus-5 rating in his past five outings. Corey Crawford, who was rested Tuesday, could be back between the pipes and the veteran has shined of late with a 3-0-1 record and a .945 save percentage his last four games.

OVERTIME

1. Kane needs one assist to reach 600 in his career and D Duncan Keith is one goal shy of 100.

2. Tampa Bay C Anthony Cirelli has scored in back-to-back games and owns four points in the last four contests.

3. Blackhawks RW Andrew Shaw (hip) is day-to-day and LW Drake Caggiula (concussion) is questionable.

PREDICTION: Lightning 4, Blackhawks 2