Game two analysis of Tampa Bay and Chicago

TAMPA, Florida – Coming off a wild Game Two where two goalie changes took place for Tampa and four different lead changes defined the game, both teams are looking to make adjustments to gain the edge heading into Game Three.

For the Lightning, they need to get a win in Chicago and the last seven weeks seem to indicate one is likely. That’s because Tampa Bay has a 7-3 record including two shutout victories in elimination games. For the Blackhawks, they are looking forward to home ice where they are 7-1 this Spring. Below are the good and bad for each team coming out of Game One and heading into Game Two.

Tampa Bay did some good things in Game Two. Among them:

Cedric Paquette marked Chicago’s Jonathan Toews well again, allowing one assist nearly 42 minutes of TOI through two games. Paquette even opened the scoring in Game Two with a nifty move from the slot.

Ben Bishop and, in relief, Andrei Vasilevskiy, played very well especially given the chaos of two goaltender switches during the latter half of the third period. They stopped 26 of 29 shots.

Coupled with speed, the physical play of the Lightning showed Chicago they have other assets. Tampa Bay was strong along the boards and took advantage of match-ups on the face-off to gain the edge.

Victor Hedman (26:05 minutes) and Anton Stralman (24:35) played a significant impact on the blue line, providing good leadership and neutralizing Chicago’s offense.

Captain Steven Stamkos played 18:46, second in ice time behind Valteri Filppula 19:34 of TOI, an improvement over his time on the ice in game one.. He has no points on seven shots.

But the Lightning also will need some adjustments to how they played, largely in the later stages. They include:

Tampa Bay has more balance in their play, but lost 65% of the face-offs. That won’t help them in Game Three if they cannot control the puck better off the draw.

Even more so, while captain Steven Stamkos’ ice time increased 90 seconds over game one, he still has no points on seven shots with an “even” rating while only winning 5 of 13 face-offs.

Chicago also had some good things come out of game one, in addition to the capturing the victory:

Chicago led in face-offs 12 of 17 in the third period and 35 of 54 for the game demonstrating solid puck possession. Marcus Kruger was 8 of 10 and Andrew Vermette was 10 of 12, key parts of the puck possession process of the draw. Chicago’s problem was that they just could not put more shots past Bishop or Vasilevskiy.

Teuvo Teravainen has another goal, making it his second in as many games and he is sarting to emerge as a real threat to the Lightning in this series.

Keith (28:52 and 2 shots) and Brent Seabrook (28:43, 1 goal on 2 shots) played big minutes, even though each was a -1 for the game.

But the Blackhawks need to make some changes, largely up front from their stares in the next game.

Toews, Patrick Kane, and Marian Hossa have combined for two assists on ten shots and an “even” rating

Chicago seemed to allow Tampa Bay to take the lead on physical play with the Lightning’s Ondrej Palat’s hit on Johnny Oduya just before the second period ended being a good example of how the Blackhawks were being pushed around.

Corey Crawford was, as Coach Quenneville put it, “just okay”. He made big saves, but needs to make sure the easy ones don’t get in. He looked shaky at moments during Game Two, stopping just 19 of 22 shots.

In the playoffs this Spring, the Lightning are just 6-6 at Amalie Arena, much different than their regular season record of 32-8-1. Their record away from home this postseason is 7-3, including huge victories in hostile environments which prevented elimination in Detroit in game six and with 2-0 shutout victories in games 5 and 7 and in New York during the Eastern Conference Final.

The Blackhawks are 6-5 on the road this postseason including a clinching victory in Anaheim to capture the Western Conference Final. They were 24-16-1 on the road in the regular season. Chicago’s home record is an impressive 7-1 this Spring to go with a 24-12-5 record during the regular season.

Here are some other interesting notes heading into Game Three.

* The team that has won Game 3 after a split of the opening two contests of the Final has gone on to capture the Stanley Cup 21 of 26 times (80.8%) since the series adopted the best-of-seven format in

* In the last such instance, in 2013, the Blackhawks lost Game 3 at BOS (2-0 L) before ultimately winning the Stanley Cup in six games.

* In the instance prior to that, in 2004, the Lightning also lost Game 3 at CGY (3-0 L) before ultimately winning the Stanley Cup in seven games.

* The other three instances in which the loser of Game 3 ultimately won the Stanley Cup following a split of the opening two contests of the Final: the 1964 Maple Leafs (in 7 GP vs. DET), the 1989

Flames (in 6 GP vs. MTL) and the 1991 Penguins (in 6 GP vs. MIN).

* Both the Blackhawks and Lightning are 2-1 in Game 3s this postseason.

* Seven of the past nine games between the Blackhawks and Lightning have been decided by one goal dating to March 9, 2011 (CHI: 2-3-4, TBL: 7-1-1), including the opening two games of the Stanley Cup Final.

* More than half of the games this postseason (52 of 85, 61.2%) have been tied or within one goal entering the final five minutes of regulation, including the first two contests of the Stanley Cup Final.

* More than one-third of the games this postseason have featured a comeback win (31 of 85, 36.5%), including both games thus far in the Stanley Cup Final.

* Dating to Game 6 of the 2013 Stanley Cup Final – which also featured the Blackhawks – six of the past eight Stanley Cup Final games have seen the victorious team overcome a deficit at any point in the contest, including four in the third period.

Last Eight Stanley Cup Final Games, Dating to 2013

2015: Game 2 – CHI 3 at TBL 4 (TBL trailed 2-1 in 2nd period)

2015: Game 1 – CHI 2 at TBL 1 (CHI trailed 1-0 in 3rd period)

2014: Game 5 – NYR 2 at LAK 3 (2OT) (LAK trailed 2-1 in 3rd period)

2014: Game 4 – LAK 1 at NYR 2^

2014: Game 3 – LAK 3 at NYR 0^

2014: Game 2 – NYR 4 at LAK 5 (2OT) (LAK trailed 4-2 in 3rd period)

2014: Game 1 – NYR 2 at LAK 3 (OT) (LAK trailed 2-0 in 1st period)

2013: Game 6 – CHI 3 at BOS 2 (CHI trailed 2-1 in 3rd period)

^ Winning team did not trail

The last two Stanley Cup winners have trailed for more time than they have led during the course of the series. The Kings led for 18.8% of total playing time in 2014 (NYR: 30.0%) and the Blackhawks led for 21.0% of total playing time in 2013 (BOS: 23.1%).

* The Blackhawks have led for 5.1% of total playing time in this series (6:06), the Lightning 66.6% (79:56). The clubs have been tied for 28.3% of total playing time thus far (33:58).

Game 3 is set for Monday night at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois. Face-off is set for 8:00 PM ET and is being televised on NBC, CBC, TVA Sports. The schedule for the remaining games in the Stanley Cup Final are listed below.

Game 4 Wed., June 10th at 8 p.m. Tampa Bay at Chicago NBCSN, CBC, TVA Sports

Game 5 Sat., June 13th at 8 p.m. Chicago at Tampa Bay NBC, CBC, TVA Sports

*Game 6 Mon., June 15th at 8 p.m. Tampa Bay at Chicago NBC, CBC, TVA Sports

*Game 7 Wed., June 17th at 8 p.m. Chicago at Tampa Bay NBC, CBC, TVA Sports

* if necessary