Catch the latest updates on the Chicago Blackhawks as they prepare to face the Tampa Bay Lightning. Key insights covered inside.
The Chicago Blackhawks are back in action tomorrow night against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Puck drop is 5:45 pm CT. Let’s cover a couple of talking points in the Hawks’ news cycle today.
Spencer Knight
Spencer Knight has been amazing to watch so far. And the Blackhawks haven’t even hit the ten-game mark. Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote an article about how Knight actually prefers to go in blind in regard to understanding the Blackhawks’ defensive zone structure.
As of this writing (afternoon of Oct. 22), Knight is eighth overall in goals against average (1.96), third in save percentage (.937), and second in goals saved above expected (8.7). Chicago’s goaltending has also faced a difficult workload as they rank 27th in 5-on-5 high-danger shot attempts (13.46/60).
Of the Blackhawks’ four losses, they only lost by one goal. Knight was in net for three of those losses. Chicago has the fourth-highest team save percentage of .937. For fancy stat nerds like myself, the Hawks also have a 1.057 PDO, the second-highest in the NHL. PDO is just a convoluted way of determining puck luck (combining team save percentage and shooting percentage). It’s only seven games, but expect some regression towards the mean.
Apr 8, 2025; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Chicago Blackhawks goaltender Spencer Knight (30) looks on during the first period against the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena.
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Andre Burakovsky
Andre Burakovsky did not participate in Wednesday morning’s practice because he was busy being a dad. While Burakovsky spent time welcoming his new daughter into the world, Lukas Reichel took his spot on the first line with Connor Bedard and Tyler Bertuzzi.
Unsure if Burakovsky will fly out to make the game tomorrow night in Tampa Bay, but let’s take a quick look at how he’s been. Bedard and Burakovsky have a 46.9% Corsi, which isn’t great. That’s impacted due to the first line’s defensive zone struggles. But Burakovsky has two goals and four points. He also has a 40.09% expected goals share.
While Lukas Reichel is pretty much who he is, if Burakovsky does miss tomorrow’s game, it wouldn’t hurt to at least see what Reichel does on the first line with Bedard. In Reichel’s four games (averaging around 9:30 minutes), he has a 69.25 xG% and three points. It is an incredibly small sample size, but at this point, why not just try?