After a rough road trip in which the Lightning lost three of four last week, they were back at home at Benchmark International Arena on Thursday to welcome the Chicago Blackhawks to Tampa.
The Blackhawks dominated the first period as Tampa’s early season struggles continued. Between penalty points and an inability to find the net, the Lightning are getting roughed up by opponents in the early periods and Thursday against Chicago was no different as the Blackhawks dominated the ice and went on to defeat the Lightning 3-2 at Benchmark International Arena.
The Blackhawaks took advantage of a Tampa Bay penalty 10:41 into the period to get on top first. It was Frank Nazar with his fourth goal of the season on a power play snap shot. His goal was assisted by Tyler Bertuzzi and Teuvo Teravainen.
The Lightning offense was quiet in the first period as they continue to struggle with finding the net. But as the second period got under way, it was the veteran, Jake Guentzel who got them on the board with a tip-in 6:57 into the period. He was assisted by Ryan McDonagh and Nikita Kucherov to the game at 1-1.
But just over three minutes later, the Blackhawks answered back and re-took the lead. Ryan Donato got a snap shot past Andrei Vasilevskiy to make it 2-1 Blackhawks. He was assisted by Lukas Reichel.
The Lightning showed signs of fight though in the second period. With :42 seconds left in the period, McDonagh got a snap shot into the net to tie it back up 2-2. Kucherov and Brayden Point assisted McDonagh with their third and fourth assists of the year respectively.
That’s where the game stood entering into the third and final regulation period.
The third period was the story of being short-handed as penalties ravaged both teams in the period. But both defenses held their own as the game remain tied until just over a minute left in the period when the Lightning were stunned by the Blackhawks who found the net to take a 3-2 lead. It was Donato with his second goal of the game and his fifth of the season. His wrist shot with :54 seconds left in the period was assisted by Nazar and Teravainen.
The Lightning had one final chance in the third period, but were unable to put the puck in the net as Blackhawks went on to defeat Tampa 3-2, leaving them 1-4-2 and still in search of the second win of their season.
The Lightning had 31 shots on goal in comparison to Chicago’s 25 shots on goal. But the Lightning faced 12 penalty minutes, with Chicago only charged with eight minutes. The Lightning continue to face a high number of penalty minutes and will need to clean up the play in order to keep a full lineup on the ice at all times and put themselves in the best position to pull off a win.
The Lightning will look to turn things around and find a way to win on Saturday when they take on the Anaheim Ducks at 5:00PM EST at Benchmark International Arena in Tampa, Florida.