Tampa Bay vs Chicago Prediction 29 January 2025

🔊 Will the "Lightning" return to their winning ways? Tampa continues to drop points at the most inopportune moments of the regular season. The Miami club is still holding onto the eighth spot in the East, but its standing is no longer stable. Chicago, on the other hand, lost its chances to continue fighting for the Stanley Cup long ago and is playing out the season, selling off assets.

📊 Head-to-Head

The opponents met very recently. Just a few days ago, the "Lightning" barely secured a victory on the road with a score of 4:3 in overtime. The match was extremely tough and fierce, with the current home team only gaining a key advantage at the start of the third period. The greatest contribution to his team's success was made by Tampa forward Jake Guentzel, who managed to score a goal and provide an assist. The American is in excellent form and has scored points in four of his last six games.

⚡ Tampa

John Cooper's team cannot find stability. The team is losing unjustifiably many points in the midst of the battle for positions in the playoff spots of the Eastern Conference. In the last five matches, the "Lightning" managed to win only two, against Detroit (5:1) and Chicago (4:3 OT). This is catastrophically insufficient for confidence in their standings. That is why the club remains in eighth place and risks falling out of the playoff zone. Fortunately, this time the opponent is quite suitable, and there should be no problems for the home team.

🔴 Chicago

The "Blackhawks" have lost seven of their last eight matches, managing to defeat only Vegas (5:3). However, such results are not surprising for the team. This is approximately how they have been playing for many years. No one sets global goals for this season for the team anymore, and the players respond with a corresponding quality of play. Any bet against Chicago seems completely justified. The only thing to rely on here is the improvement of individual statistical indicators of certain players.

🔗 Probable Lineups

Tampa: Vasilevskiy - Hedman, Raddysh - Kucherov, Point, Guentzel

Chicago: Mrazek - Martinez, Allan - Bertuzzi, Bedard, Nazar

🥅 Goalkeepers

Tampa's goalkeeper Andrei Vasilevskiy had another excellent game against Detroit (96.7%), but ultimately lost. His teammates did not take advantage of the numerous chances given by the Russian and failed to score a single goal. Nevertheless, the goalie once again confirmed his high level after a failure against Montreal (86.4%).

Chicago's goalie Petr Mrazek has been playing much less frequently lately and is gradually yielding the first-choice spot to his partner Arvid Soderblom. This is a quite natural process of generational change, but the Czech remains stable and composed. In two of his last three games, the goalie maintained a 90% save rate.

📝 Editorial Prediction

The current form of the opponents clearly indicates a dominant advantage for the home team. Yes, the "Lightning" make mistakes and drop points, but the current class of opponents is incomparable. The "Blackhawks" have long lost any motivation and are preparing for another mass exodus of players. Demanding motivation and success from the team under such circumstances is quite a dubious idea. John Cooper's team failed to score a single goal in their last game against Detroit, and this is an excellent opportunity to regain confidence through goals. Our key bet is Tampa's victory in regulation time.