Golden: Blackhawks at Lightning

The Chicago Blackhawks visit Tampa Thursday for their first matchup of the season against the Lightning.

After being one of the top teams in the league for several years, the Lightning are off to a rocky start this season, having dropped three straight games following a 3-2 loss in Columbus on Saturday. They currently sit in last place in the Atlantic Division. This is likely due in part to their poor shot metrics early on, as they’ve controlled just 46.22 percent of shot attempts (26th in the league) and 47.65 percent of expected goals (23rd) through their first six games. It’s still a small sample size, of course, but it highlights that the Lightning haven’t quite been up to their usual standard yet.

In their most recent outing, the Lightning squandered a one-goal lead after the first period, as the Blue Jackets struck twice in each of the final two frames to hand Tampa Bay another loss. Ryan McDonagh and Anthony Cirelli provided the offense for the Lightning, while goaltender Jonas Johansson turned aside 28 of 31 shots (.903 save percentage%). Tampa Bay was shorthanded, though, with star forward Nikita Kucherov missing his second consecutive game due to illness.

Currently, Jake Guentzel leads the Lightning in scoring with six points (1 G, 5 A), followed by Brayden Point (2 G, 3 A) and Victor Hedman (5 A), who each have five points. With his goal against Columbus, Anthony Cirelli became the the team’s leading goal scorer with three on the season. Andrei Vasilevskiy, usually a wall in net, has just a .886 save percentage in four games to start the season after facing an average of 30.75 shots per game. Johansson has faired slightly better with a .906 save percentage in two games, even with a slightly higher (32) shots per game average.

Thursday morning, the Lightning recalled forward prospect Dominic James and it was confirmed he would be in the game lineup. That should be a somewhat familiar name since he was originally drafted by the Blackhawks (six-round, 2022) but went the free-agency round after his senior season at University of Minnesota-Duluth.

We’ve recalled forward Dominic James from the @SyracuseCrunch.

🗞️ https://t.co/3lqVKM3Dy4 pic.twitter.com/ZhzjT7xdPf

— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) October 22, 2025

Jon Cooper confirms Dominic James will be making his NHL debut tonight

— Gabby Shirley (@Gabby_Shirley_) October 23, 2025

The Lightning had just an optional morning skate Thursday, so it’s unknown exactly where James will slot into the lineup. Below is what they were rolling at Wednesday’s practice, and it looks like Kucherov may be back in. The start in net

#GoBolts 10/22 practice lines:

Guentzel-Point-Goncalves
Hagel-Cirelli-Kucherov
Bjorkstrand-Gourde-Holmberg
Douglas-Girgensons-Chaffee
Finley

Hedman-Moser
McDonagh-Cernak
Lilleberg-Raddysh
D’Astous

— Eduardo A. Encina (@EddieInTheYard) October 22, 2025

The Blackhawks enter Thursday’s matchup riding some momentum after picking up their third win in four games with a 2-1 overtime victory against the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday. Ryan Donato led the way with two points (1G, 1A), including the game-winner in overtime, while Frank Nazar scored once the other goal in electric fashion. Connor Bedard added an assist and fired a career-high nine shots on goal. Young defenseman Sam Rinzel and contributed an assist and Alex Vlasic blocked a game-high four shots. Goaltender Spencer Knight marked his 100th NHL appearance with a stellar 38-save performance on 39 shots (.974 save-percentage%) to secure the win.

Up front, Bedard (2 G, 5 A) and Nazar (3 G, 4 A) are tied for the team lead with seven points apiece while Teuvo Teravainen is close behind with six points (1 G, 5 A). Tyler Bertuzzi (2 G, 3 A) and Ryan Donato (3 G, 2 A) round out the top five with five points each. In terms of goal scoring, Donato, Nazar, and Ilya Mikheyev share the team lead with three apiece, with Donato riding a three-game goal streak. Rinzel (1 G, 2 A) leads the defensemen in points with three while every other defender under 25 has two points each. Knight has a .937 save percentage in five games (31.6 shots against average) and Arvid Soderblom has a .881 save percentage in the other two games (29.5 shots against average).

Blackhawks lines at morning skate are below. Of note, Jason Dickinson (undisclosed) is still out and Andre Burakovsky did not participate as he’s still with his wife and newborn child.

Early indications are Lafferty will be the forward scratch yet again.

— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) October 23, 2025

Andre Burakovsky’s wife posted on Instagram that they welcomed their second child on Monday. That’s probably why he’s away from the Blackhawks right now: pic.twitter.com/KJEPdG1F2n

— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) October 22, 2025