Lightning not intimidated by Blackhawks' pedigree, experience
Tampa Bay isn't interested in paying its dues. The Lightning want the Stanley Cup now.
It doesn't matter that this is goalie Ben Bishop's first postseason. It doesn't matter that this is coach Jon Cooper's second NHL season. It doesn't matter that Chicago has far more experience, far more household names and a far more seasoned coach.
While most of the hockey world likely assumed that Chicago was on its way to a Game 3 win after Brandon Saad scored the go-ahead goal in the third period, Tampa counter-punched for the second time in the last two games to post a 3-2 win at United Center and a take a 2-1 lead in the Stanley Cup Final.
Ondrej Palat tied the game 13 seconds after Saad's goal, giving the Triplets line 31 goals in 23 playoff games. Cedric Paquette scored the game-winning goal with 3:11 remaining, and Tampa handed Chicago its first back-to-back losses of the postseason.
"Two games we had the lead, but short-lived both times," Chicago coach Joel Quenneville lamented. "Two tough losses in a row."
Play of the day: Hedman's pass and Callahan's bullet. It's too bad that this goal opened the scoring because it really was a thing of beauty. While gathering the puck behind his own net, Tampa defenseman Victor Hedman spotted forward Ryan Callahan all alone at the far blue line and literally slapped a pass up to his forward, who ripped a rocket past goalie Corey Crawford's glove hand, off the cross bar and into the net. Chicago fans will note that Crawford went down far too soon on the play -- they're right -- but that doesn't diminish the difficulty of the shot Callahan unleashed.
Callahan goal pic.twitter.com/PpVrr1Dtc4
— Stephanie Vail (@myregularface) June 9, 2015
Turning point: Saad had just scored to give the Blackhawks a 2-1 lead with 15:46 left in the game. The crowd was buzzing, the goal was still being announced and the highlight was still being shown when Blackhawks defenseman Kyle Cumiskey lost his man, Paquette, in the slot and the game was tied 13 seconds later.
Three stars
1. Victor Hedman, D, Tampa. Hedman had a pair of primary assists, including on the game-winning goal. He also had four shots, three hits, five blocked shots and a team-high 26:06 of ice time.
2. Ben Bishop, G, Tampa. The goalie who was supposedly playing hurt turned aside 36 of 38 Chicago shots for the victory.
3. Brandon Saad, LW, Chicago. Saad had the go-ahead goal, six shots and three hits in a dominant performance that will further bolster his fortunes this summer when he becomes a restricted free agent.
Series: Tampa Bay leads 2-1.
Key stat: Palat's goal was the 10th Chicago has allowed in the postseason less than two minutes after scoring a goal.
Key stat II: Saad and Palat scored 13 seconds apart. The fastest two goals ever in Cup Final history came 10 seconds apart.
Key stat III: Per Elias, best-of-seven Stanley Cup Final series have been tied 1-1 on 26 occasions. The road teams that won Game 3 are 13-0 in those series.
Fastest 2 goals in #StanleyCup Final, both teams – 0:10 Game 1 1936: DET W. Kilrea & TOR B. Boll Game 3 1947: TOR V. Lynn & MTL L. Gravelle
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) June 9, 2015
Best visual: Up, up and away. In Monday's first period, Chicago goalie Corey Crawford made a save only to have the puck float high in the air, drift over him and off the crossbar before falling out of harm's way.
Empty feeling: After Tampa took a 1-0 lead early in the first period, Chicago dominated the rest of the period, outshooting the Bolts 19-3 the rest of the way. Brad Richards eventually tied the game, but Marian Hossa and Patrick Kane both missed literally empty nets -- opportunities that came back to bite the Hawks.
overhead of Crawford save pic.twitter.com/BEstdHFR3P
— Stephanie Vail (@myregularface) June 9, 2015
Best quote: "It's taken him a few years, but Victor Hedman has arrived. This is clearly his coming-out party." Tampa coach Jon Cooper on his budding superstar defenseman, who has probably been the best player in this series.
What we learned: The supposed trump card in this series, Chicago's experience, hasn't been a factor. Tampa Bay may be thinking that, if not for the final seven minutes of Game 1, it could be up 3-0 in this series. That's a foolish game to play, because you never know how one outcome impacts the next, but there is no arguing that Tampa has been more than a match for the much-hyped Blackhawks through three games. Maybe Chicago's experience will take over now that its back is to the wall (it wouldn't be the first time we've seen that from the 'Hawks) or maybe Tampa is just ready to take the final step in its maturation.
Next game: Game 4, Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET at United Center in Chicago.
Final thought: Throughout Monday's game, Twitter was abuzz with self-appointed doctors noting that Bishop looked injured and didn't belong in the game. Cooper tried to dispel those rumors during the game by saying Bishop is slow to get up and down because he's a big guy, but the conspiracy theorists were having none of it.
Look, Bishop is clearly not 100 percent. He didn't look right and he did leave Game 2 early, so there's plenty of evidence to suggest he's hurt, not the least of which was Cooper's postgame comments. The NHL playoffs make players do crazy things, but there is a difference between playing hurt and playing injured. Bishop made 36 saves Monday. Given that performance, we're giving him the benefit of the doubt and saying he's well enough to play.
"If he was going to be in harm's way, we would have pulled him out, but he was good."
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