Though the Hawks saw their shot at tying a club record for longest win streak foiled by the Florida Panthers on Tuesday night, things have still been up for the team. The Hawks have won 10 of their last 14 games and will try to grab number 11 as they take on the Tampa Bay Lightning tonight in Tampa.
The Lightning will be a tougher foe than the Panthers were, however. Despite skidding recently, Tampa Bay has a nearly identical record to that of the Hawks, at 37-21-8. But, the Hawks have had their number in recent games, going 2-9-1 with two ties in their last fourteen match-ups. Much of this has been due to strong play by Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, both of whom are hot right now.
Other good signs for the Hawks include the recent scoring troubles of the Lightning, since Tuesday evening's loss against Florida was largely due to a terrible first period by Corey Crawford. Marty Turco faced just seven shots in relief over the last 2/3 of that game, but the three goals allowed by Crawford in the first 20 minutes proved too much for the Blackhawks to catch up to. Fortunately for Crawford and Chicago, the Lightning have scored just five goals in their recent four game losing streak. If the Blackhawks can take advantage of the downward trending Lightning tonight, we might be talking about another winning streak soon.
The game starts at 6:30 P.M. and will be televised on Versus and CSN-Chicago.