Connor Bedard back on line with Nick Foligno, Philipp Kurashev as Blackhawks face Lightning

Chicago take on another tough opponent. Tampa Bay led by NHL leading scorer Nikita Kucherov.

Coach Luke Richardson will stick with line combinations and defense pairings from this week's practices when the Chicago Blackhawks hit the ice against Nikita Kucherov and the Lightning in Tampa on Thursday night.

That includes a top trio centered by rookie Connor Bedard, with Nick Foligno and Philipp Kurashev on the wings. 

Bedard enters with five goals and two assists in his first NHL games. The NHL's No.1 draft pick of 2023 had scored in three straight games before he was kept off the scoresheet in Chicago's lackluster 4-2 home loss to the New Jersey Devils on Sunday.

Once again the Blackhawks, at 4-7-0, face an opponent with a much better record and depth. Chicago's foes through its first 12 games have a combined record of 71-35-14. Pittsburgh, at 5-6-1, is the only sub-.500 team in the group entering Thursday. Montréal is even at 5-5-2.

See video from Richardson on the challenging early schedule.

The Lightning, perennially one of the NHL's top clubs, is off to a 6-3-2 start. Kucherov has 10 goals and 12 assists in 22 games to lead the league in points, while Brayden Point has six goals and 11 assists.

Former Blackhawk forward Brandon Hagel is prospering too, with seven goals and seven assists.

The Lightning, however, remains without top goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, who underwent lumbar spine surgery, and has allowed 45 goals for a 3.46 team goals-against average that ranks 25th among 32 teams, Jonas Johansson has filed in as Tampa Bay's main man in nets and is 5-1-4 with a 3.17 goals-against.

Here are Chicago's expected line combinations and pairings:

F1. Nick Foligno-Connor Bedard-Philipp Kurashev

F2. Lukas Reichel-Andreas Athanasiou-Taylor Raddysh

F3. Taylor Hall-Jason Dickinson-Tyler Johnson

F4. Ryan Donato-MacKenzie Entwistle-Corey Perry

D1. Alex Vlasic-Seth Jones

D2. Kevin Korchinski-Connor Murphy

D3. Wyatt Kaiser-Jarred Tinordi

Petr Mrazek (starter), Arvid Söderblom