Chicago rookie Landon Slaggert gave Chicago their first lead of the night on a one-time shot from the top of the left faceoff circle. A Chicago shot missed the net wide but bounced around the front of the net to a waiting Ryan Donato, who extended the Blackhawks’ lead from the left side of the goal.

Landon Slaggert’s offensive game isn’t all that nuanced. To the Chicago Blackhawks forward, scoring goals is pretty much black-and-white. Or, better yet, blue. “Just getting to the blue paint,” he said hours before he was set to make his NHL season debut Tuesday against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Nikita Kucherov scored 58 seconds into overtime and had two assists as the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-3.

BOTTOM LINE: The Chicago Blackhawks enter the matchup with the Tampa Bay Lightning as losers of three games in a row. Tampa Bay has a 26-19-3 record overall and a 15-6-1 record in home games. The Lightning have allowed 135 goals while scoring 170 for a +35 scoring differential.

The Blackhawks, in return for Hagel, got two first-round picks (2023 and 2024), and two players (Boris Katchouk and Taylor Raddysh). The 2023 first-round pick ended up turning into Oliver Moore. As for 2024, they used that first to move up two spots with the New York Islanders and they selected Sacha Boisvert.

The NHL schedule on Tuesday features a matchup between the Tampa Bay Lightning (26-19-3) and the Chicago Blackhawks (15-29-5), starting at 7:00 PM ET at Amalie Arena and broadcast on ESPN+. The Lightning are eighth (with 55 points) in the Eastern Conference and the Blackhawks are 15th (35 points) in the Western Conference.

The Tampa Bay Lightning’s Nikita Kucherov and the Chicago Blackhawks’ Connor Bedard are two of the top players to keep an eye on when these squads meet on Tuesday at 7:00 PM ET, at Amalie Arena. Purchase tickets for this game at StubHub!

Slaggert put the Blackhawks ahead 2-1 at 18:14 with a snap shot from the top of the left circle off a drop pass from Lukas Reichel. Slaggert was playing his first NHL game of the season, having been recalled from Rockford of the American Hockey League on Sunday.

The Bolts have dominated its series with the Blackhawks since 2017, and our expert NHL predictions expect Tampa Bay's dominance to continue tonight at Chicago.

The Tampa Bay Lightning will play the Chicago Blackhawks twice in the next five days, starting on Friday night in Chicago. The Lightning are 0-2 so far on their road-trip and would love nothing ...

Connor Bedard put the Chicago Blackhawks on the board, but it was Landon Slaggert who gave them the only lead they’d need.