Lightning answer challenge with Game 2 win

By admin

The Lightning beat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-3 at Amalie Arena to improve to 4-0 with 21 goals in Game 2s in the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs. More important, they tied the Stanley Cup Final at 1-1.

0606 stanley cup

For the Lightning, the best part about the win, other than the fact that it tied the best-of-7 series, of course, is how they did it through the circumstances they faced. There were three times in Game 2 that the Lightning could have wilted under pressure; they instead got stronger.

The first time occurred in the second period, when in a span of 2:16 the Lightning’s 1-0 lead turned into a 2-1 deficit. That happened in a span of 1:58 in the third period of Game 1, and it was the difference in a 2-1 loss.

This time, the Lightning got a goal by Nikita Kucherov on a deflection of Jason Garrison’s shot-pass from the left point to tie the game at 6:52; it came 92 seconds after Chicago took the lead on Teuvo Teravainen’s power-play goal.

Shortly after giving up the lead, Tampa Bay drew back-to-back penalties on Chicago forward Patrick Sharp. They cashed in on the second power play when Garrison’s shot hit the stick of Chicago forwardAndrew Desjardins and got past goalie Corey Crawford at 8:49.

Garrison’s goal was the second of the game from a player outside of Tampa Bay’s top-six forward group.Cedric Paquette scored in the first period, putting an exclamation point on his second straight thorough defeat of Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews in the matchup battle.

Prior to Game 2, only 10 of Tampa Bay’s 56 goals in the playoffs had come from players outside the top-six forwards. Secondary scoring isn’t a problem until it finally is. It became one in Game 1, when Chicago got its two goals from third-liners. The Lightning eliminated the concern in Game 2.

The Lightning had all of two shots on goal, but it wasn’t because they sat back. Far from it. They pushed, they got the puck in deep. They made the Blackhawks go the full length of the ice, not just half the sheet, as they did in Game 1. They held Chicago to five shots after taking the lead.

NHL Stanley Cup Finals Game 3: Chicago Blackhawks vs Tampa Bay Lightning / 9.6.2015 – 02:00CET / United Center, Chicago