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.

But Blackhawks star Connor Bedard scored the tying goal with five seconds left on Chicago’s one-man-advantage with a remarkable tight-angle shot that found a tiny opening between goaltender Jonas Johansson’s left shoulder and the crossbar.

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 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.

If proximity leads to familiarity, the Chicago Blackhawks and Tampa Bay Lightning should be getting to know each other pretty well.

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 ...

With Ryan Donato on the trade block, Landon Slaggert is a prospect that could establish a similar role in the future.

A generation ago, it felt like the best hope a short guy had of thriving in the NHL was in the crease. Today, the dynamic has largely flipped. Ryan Dixon takes a look at each team’s undersized players in this week’s Power Rankings.