After losing Nikita Kucherov in the first period, a series of miscues in the third period would ultimately doom the Tampa Bay Lightning as they fall 3-2 in the series to the Chicago Blackhawks.
The Tampa Bay Lightning faced some serious adversity in the first period after losing Nikita Kucherov to an Upper Body Injury, and despite taking control in the second period a series of miscues in the third period would ultimately doom the Lightning as they fell 2-1 to the Chicago Blackhawks in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals. The Chicago Blackhawks now lead the series 3-2.
Before the action kicked off tonight at the Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida a roar emerged from the crowd. Not only were they excited to see their team take the ice for Game 5, but they were elated to see that Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Ben Bishop would be leading their team onto the ice.
Earlier in the day is was uncertain who would be getting the start between the pipes for the Tampa Bay Lightning tonight, but all of that uncertainty would fall by the wayside now.
It wasn’t long before the Chicago Blackhawks decided to give Ben Bishop his first real test of the night as they came out strong with players like Brandon Saad making a solid run at Bishop. Thankfully for the Tampa Bay Lightning, Bishop would turn those chances away.
In the first five minutes of play, the pace was most certainly set by the Chicago Blackhawks, who would outshoot the Tampa Bay Lightning 8-1. The Tampa Bay Lightning had a beautiful opportunity in front of the net thanks to a horrific turnover by Corey Crawford that was almost put in the back of the net by Nikita Kucherov.
Unfortunately for both the Lightning and Kucherov, Kucherov would end up sailing over Crawford and absolutely nail the goal post with what seemed like his neck/shoulder area. Kucherov looked like he was in some pretty serious pain as he made his way to the bench.
It’s always nice to get an opportunity, but there are very few (if any), opportunities that are worth one of the team’s key players sustaining a potentially serious injury. As you can imagine, Kucherov headed straight to the locker room after the on-ice collision.
RELATED: Nikita Kucherov Leaves Game 5 Early With Upper Body Injury
Just when you think things couldn’t possibly get any worse for the Tampa Bay Lightning, we see one of the most terrible errors in judgment we have seen all season long. Ben Bishop would come pretty far out of his crease to play a puck headed back into the Lightning zone.
Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman would attempt to play the same puck that Bishop is heading way out of position for, and the two rather large Lightning players would collide and go tumbling to the ground. Not only would this error in judgment spark fear in the hearts of Lightning fans that Bishop had aggravated an injury, but it would also open the door for the Blackhawks to walk the puck into the net.
It would be Blackhawks left wing Patrick Sharp who would sink the puck into the open net with the assists from Hawks rookie Teuvo Teravainen and captain Jonathan Toews. If the Tampa Bay Lightning had any hope of getting back into this game, they would need to get it together and fast.
The Lightning would seem to gain a little bit of ground, but nowhere near close the effort they would need to bring the Blackhawks down. When the buzzer sounded to end the first period, the Blackhawks would outshoot the Lightning 14-5. Needless to say, it will take a lot more than 5 shots on goal to bring down the Hawks.
When these two teams hit the ice for the second period, the Tampa Bay Lightning seemed a little more focused, but unfortunately, Nikita Kucherov was not one of the players to make their way to the bench for the second period. At this point in the game, there was no word as to whether or not he would eventually return.
It would be the Chicago Blackhawks who would get the first crack at the Power Play tonight as Lightning center Cedric Paquette would be sent to the penalty box for 2 minutes for hooking Brandon Saad. Thankfully for the Tampa Bay Lightning, they were able to successfully kill the penalty, holding the Blackhawks to just 2 shots on goal during the penalty.
It would take just past the halfway point in the 2nd period, but the Tampa Bay Lightning would finally break the ice and tie this game up at 1. Lightning defenseman Jason Garrison would play the puck along the boards and send the puck flying across the ice to the stick of Valtteri Filppula.
Filppula, who is the only current member of the Tampa Bay Lightning to have won a Stanley Cup, would react quickly and send the puck flying past an unsuspecting Corey Crawford to tie this game up for the Tampa Bay Lightning.
A few moments later, the Lightning would get their first crack at the man-advantage as Brandon Saad made his way to the penalty box for 2 minutes for Slashing Lightning right wing J.T. Brown. In a mirror image of what happened to the Blackhawks in their first shot at the Power Play, the Lightning was held to just 2 shots on goal.
When the buzzer would sound to end the period, the Tampa Bay Lightning and Chicago Blackhawks would find themselves tied at 1 goal apiece. This seems to be becoming a pattern in this series. Each and every game in the series thus far has been decided by a single goal. We’d be lying to you if we didn’t tell you that this has made for some incredibly exciting hockey.
When you take a look at the numbers, it is clear to see that while the first period went to the Chicago Blackhawks, the second period was all about the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Lightning outscored the Blackhawks 12-8 in the second period for a total of 22-17 Blackhawks.
The Lightning did make a little ground in the faceoff circle, but they were still outdone by the Blackhawks 19-16 through 2 periods of play.
While we will contend that there is still plenty of hockey to play in this game, the Tampa Bay Lightning are going to have to kick it into high gear as they take the ice for the third period. This is our time and our destiny, but the only way that we are going to achieve our ultimate goal is if we give it everything we have.
The Tampa Bay Lightning seemed to have the upper hand when the puck would drop to begin the third period. The Lightning made quite a few solid runs at the net early in the period, even one by Jonathan Drouin, but ultimately they would all be turned away by Corey Crawford.
Unfortunately, the same thing cannot be said at the other end of the ice. Just 2 minutes into the third period, Blackhawks center Antoine Vermette would dig for the rebound in front of the net off of a shot from left wing Kris Versteeg. Before Bishop even knew what happened, Vermette had found the back of the net and the Blackhawks would retake the lead from the Lightning.
The curious thing here is that Bishop had both Brenden Morrow and Jonathan Drouin in front of him and neither one of them were able to play any role in helping Bishop in front of the net. We hate to be the Negative Nancy here, but there is something seriously wrong with that.
Things almost went from bad to worse for the Tampa Bay Lightning late in the third period. Ben Bishop would deflect a shot away from the net, but Blackhawks left wing Andrew Desjardins would attempt to dig for the rebound. Before anyone in the crowd had any idea what was going on, there was a dog pile in front of the net and Bishop was at the bottom.
The referees took a little longer than we would have hoped to blow the play dead, but alas they finally did and Bishop would be able to keep the puck out of the net.
The Tampa Bay Lightning would turn on the afterburners in the third period, making plenty of solid attempts at the Blackhawks’ net, but the Lightning just couldn’t seem to find their way past Corey Crawford.
As the time continued to tick off the clock, fans would anxiously await the call from Jon Cooper that would call Ben Bishop to the bench, but it wasn’t until there was around 1:30 left in the game that the call finally came.
If the Tampa Bay Lightning is going to deny the Chicago Blackhawks their opportunity at victory, they are going to have to head into the Madhouse on Madison on all cylinders.
The Lightning would fight to the best of their abilities to get the puck in the back of the net, but with less than a minute left in the game, the Tampa Bay Lightning would be called for Too Many Men on the Ice once again and Jonathan Drouin would make his way to the sin bin, essentially killing any momentum that the Lightning would have built up in their last minute barrage.
The Tampa Bay Lightning would fall just short as the Chicago Blackhawks edged the Bolts 2-1 in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals. Now, the Tampa Bay Lightning is headed back to the United Center in Chicago for Game 6.
There will be more than a few questions heading into Monday night’s game. On the top of that list will be the condition of Nikita Kucherov heading into Game 6. Not far behind will be the mindset of Lightning goaltender Ben Bishop. If the Tampa Bay Lightning is going to deny the Chicago Blackhawks their opportunity at victory, they are going to have to head into the Madhouse on Madison on all cylinders.
The Chicago Blackhawks have not won a Stanley Cup in the City of Chicago since 1938. The Tampa Bay Lightning has not lost more than 2 games in a row all season long. When the final buzzer sounds on Monday night, one of these two teams will have a record/streak broken.
For the Tampa Bay Lightning, there is no tomorrow. If they truly want to bring the Stanley Cup back to the City of Tampa, they are going to have to put this disappointing loss behind them and direct every single bit of their focus on the task at hand.
The Bolts will have to use their speed and skill to the best of their ability and dig for each and every rebound they can if they want to be successful in Chicago and have one more game to reach out their hands and grab their destiny.
What do you think was the Tampa Bay Lightning’s biggest miscue in tonight’s game? What do you think the Lightning can take from tonight’s game and use in Game 6 in Chicago on Monday? Who do you think really needs to step up their game in Game 6? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
Next: Nikita Kucherov Leaves Game 5 With An Upper Body Injury
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