Tampa Bay Lightning Stay Strong And Take Game 2 From Blackhawks

The Tampa Bay Lightning stayed strong in the third period and emerged victorious against the Chicago Blackhawks in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals.

It was a bit of a nail biter in the final minutes of Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals here at the Amalie Arena, but when the final buzzer sounded it was the Tampa Bay Lightning who would emerge victorious and tie the series at 1 as they head to the United Center on Monday night for Game 3.

Much like Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals, the Tampa Bay Lightning came out of the tunnel with passion and purpose. In the opening minutes of the game, a majority of the time was spent in front of Corey Crawford and the Chicago Blackhawks net.

Unfortunately, as the period pressed on a series of turnovers at the hands of the Tampa Bay Lightning provided quite a few opportunities of the Chicago Blackhawks; especially the rush by Blackhawks right wing Andrew Shaw. Thankfully, the Blackhawks would find themselves unable to capitalize.

As the period approached the halfway point, it was obvious that the Tampa Bay Lightning were hungry for a goal. They continued to put the pressure on Crawford and it wasn’t long until their opportunity presented itself.

Thanks to a screen from Jonathan Drouin, who is playing in his first post season game since Game 4 against the Montreal Canadiens in Round 2, Cedric Paquette fired a wrist shot that would sail past Crawford and give the Tampa Bay Lightning the early lead.

It took over 18 minutes, but the Tampa Bay Lightning would get the first crack at the Power Play of the night as Blackhawks defenseman Johnny Oduya was sent off for 2 minutes for Tripping Lightning center Valtteri Filppula.

The Tampa Bay Lightning would deploy their most dangerous line for the man advantage, but the buzzer would sound before anyone could capitalize. When these two teams returned to the ice for the second period, the Tampa Bay Lightning would have a remainder of 28 seconds on the Power Play.

The Tampa Bay Lightning led on the score sheet heading into the first intermission, but when you look at some of the on-ice stats these two championship teams were pretty evenly matched. The Lightning edged past the Blackhawks in shots on goal, going 12-11. The faceoff circle was a bit of a different animal where both teams were tied at 9 apiece.

As we mentioned before, when the two teams hit the ice for the second period, the Tampa Bay Lightning would have a remaining 28 seconds on the Power Play. Unfortunately, the Lightning would not be able to capitalize.

It wasn’t long in the second period before the Blackhawks would make their move and attempt to tie the game at 1. This is just what happened when Blackhawks right wing Andrew Shaw found himself with a loose puck in front of Ben Bishop. In just one quick swipe, the Blackhawks would capitalize and make it a 1-1 game.

The Tampa Bay Lightning seemed to be a little off their game in the opening minutes of the second period. Less than two minutes after Shaw’s goal, Alex Killorn would find himself headed to the penalty box for 2 minutes for Hooking Blackhawks center Brad Richards.

This would open the door for the Hawks to capitalize on the Power Play, and capitalize they did. Just over 1 minute into the Power Play Blackhawks rookies Teuvo Teravainen would net his fourth goal of the post season and give the Blackhawks their first lead of the game.

The Tampa Bay Lightning knew that if they wanted to come out victorious in tonight’s game, they would not be able to settle into this game and let something like this stand. It was time for them to make a move. Thankfully, this is where the Lightning’s young core would come into play.

It was the Lightning’s own #86, Nikita Kucherov, who would kick things into high gear and tip in a shot from defenseman Jason Garrison to tie this game up for the Tampa Bay Lightning. The secondary assist on the Kucherov goal went to defenseman Braydon Coburn.

Aggravatingly enough, the Tampa Bay Lightning would give the Blackhawks yet another shot at the man advantage as Braydon Coburn was sent off for 2 minutes for Holding Blackhawks left wing Kris Versteeg. On the bright side, the Lightning was more than capable of killing the penalty.

The goal from Kucherov seemed to give the Lightning the spark they needed to really dig into this game. At 13:58 in the period, the Triplets would kick into high gear. It would be Tyler Johnson who would fire off a wrist shot that would sail past Crawford and into the back of the net. As you can imagine, the assist on the Johnson goal would be awarded to his linemate Nikita Kucherov.

Johnson’s goal would set a new Tampa Bay Lightning franchise record for goals scored in the post season. This record was set back by the Stanley Cup Champion Tampa Bay Lightning back in 2004 by Brad Richards and Ruslan Fedotenko.

It would seem as if there is nothing that can stop this 24 year old goal scoring machine when he puts his mind to it. You can bet your bottom dollar when his contract comes due, the Lightning are going to do what it takes to keep him in Lightning blue for many years to come.

After the 20 minutes intermission, the Tampa Bay Lightning and Chicago Blackhawks would hit the ice for the final period of play. This would be the true test for the Bolts. A third period breakdown is what led to their defeat in Game 1. If they can hold the line, this may be a different game for the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Things started out promising for the Lightning, but all of a sudden things would escalate to a whole new level. Blackhawks defenseman Brent Seabrook would fire off a slapshot that would find its way past Bishop. Under normal circumstances we would have no issues with this, but these were not normal circumstances.

It was pretty apparent that Hawks right wing Marian Hossa interfered with Ben Bishop by hooking his pads and pulling his leg out from in front of him. When no call was made on the play, Ben Bishop was visibly angry and pled his case to the referees, but as usual they would have none of it. The goal would stand and the Chicago Blackhawks would tie the game once again.

At the television time out, Ben Bishop would exit the ice and head to the Lightning locker room. In his place between the pipes would be Andrei Vasilevskiy. As the play began Bishop made his way back out to the Lightning bench, but as play had already began he would have to sit by and watch.

Shortly after that moment, the Tampa Bay Lightning would find themselves back on the Power Play as Patrick Sharp was sent off for the second time in three minutes as he was sent to the penalty box for High Sticking Ryan Callahan. As it goes with opportunities, this opened the door for the Lightning to reclaim the lead.

Not to be denied an opportunity, and probably incredible fired up over the Seabrook goal, Jason Garrison would get the job done and sink the puck past Crawford to give the Tampa Bay Lightning a 4-3 lead with just a little over half a period left in the game.

After the goal, Ben Bishop would head back out between the pipes for the Tampa Bay Lightning. Unfortunately, his time between the pipes would not be very long. A couple of plays later, Bishop would make his way off the ice once again and once again Vasilevskiy would take Bishop’s place between the pipes.

At this point, the Tampa Bay Lightning defense would need to kick into high gear and ensure that the high-powered offense of the Chicago Blackhawks doesn’t get an easy opportunity at the net.

Unfortunately, the Tampa Bay Lightning would open the door for another opportunity for the Blackhawks as defenseman Andrej Sustr would be sent off for 2 minutes for Delay of Game. The good news is that the Tampa Bay Lightning was able to kill the penalty. The bad news is that this is just another penalty in a string of unnecessary penalties that could have bit the Lightning in the behind.

The final two minutes of Game 2 would be a nail-biter for Tampa Bay Lightning fans around the world. As each second ticked off the clock, the tension would grow thicker and thicker.

Things reached a boiling point with just 20 seconds left in the game and the puck was hit out of play, bringing the faceoff to the Lightning’s defensive zone. If the Blackhawks won the faceoff, it would put them in a prime position to sink the puck. If not, the Lightning had a chance at an empty net.

Thankfully for the Tampa Bay Lightning, they were able to clear the puck out of the zone for a good portion of the remaining 20 seconds and when the final buzzer would sound the Tampa Bay Lightning would emerge victorious. As the Lightning head into the United Center on Monday night, the series would be tied at 1.

There are plenty of reasons to be happy about tonight’s Tampa Bay Lightning win, but there are plenty of questions as well. The most pressing of those questions is what the reasoning was for Ben Bishop’s multiple trips off of the ice and to the locker room? Is this a question of an injury or something far less serious?

Before they head into Chicago on Monday night, the Lightning is going to have to sit down and have a discussion about unnecessary penalties and how to avoid them.

Overall, there is a lot to be happy about tonight. Besides the fact that this series is headed into Game 3 tied at 1, the Tampa Bay Lightning played a much better third period tonight than they did in Game 1. Sure, there are still some loose ends that need to be tied up, but overall it was a much better showing.

Now if we can just get the NBC announcer to know the difference between Ben Bishop and Andrei Vasilevskiy, we’ll be in pretty good shape.

Next up, the Tampa Bay Lightning charge into the United Center to take on the Chicago Blackhawks in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals on Monday night at 8:00 p.m. The Lightning has had little difficulty winning games on the road this post season, so we are fairly positive that our Boys in Blue will be heading into the Madhouse with a certain level of confidence.

What was your highlight of tonight’s Game 2 performance? What do you think the Tampa Bay Lightning could take away from tonight’s game and use in Game 3 in Chicago? What areas do you think the Bolts could use a jolt in before Monday night? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Next: BBTB Round Table: Highs and Lows of the Eastern Conference Finals

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