In Chicago, it appeared the Tampa Bay Lightning were about to cruise to an easy win over the Blackhawks on Friday night.
Anthony Cirelli and Alex Killorn staked th4e Bolts to a 2-0 lead in the first period.
“I’d say for two-thirds of the game last night they were better than us,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “So it’s probably worked out the way it should’ve in reverse order, but we did a lot of good things tonight. We can’t hang our heads. A couple of mistakes were made … but for the most part, I liked our game.”
The issue for Tampa Bay was, they let the Blackhawks off the hook and lost, 4-3, in extra time.
“We didn’t really play that well, but we’re happy we just found a way,” Blackhawks head coach Jeremy Colliton said. “That’s what good teams do. That’s what they did the night before. We probably deserved to win; they probably deserved tonight. But we stayed with it, stayed in it, found a way to survive. So we end up with two [points].”
Alex DeBrincat rallied the Hawks back to a 2-2 tie with two goals (100 and 101st NHL goals).
Malcolm Subban made 39 saves to get the win.
“It’s fun to win those,” Subban said. “Obviously, they’re a good team and they’ve got some good shooters. I’m happy that we could pull it out because they’ve got some players that can put the puck in the net.”
Philipp Kurashev scored the only goal in the skills competition to get the win for the Hawks.
Chicago improved to 13-7-5.
“Some unbelievable blocks by our guys [on the penalty kill],” Subban said. “I think the boys flexed out and [were] willing to block shots. Just the willingness to block shots there is unbelievable and goes a long way. If you want to win and continue to win, you’ve got to block shots like that. It helps me out a lot; it helps the goalies out a lot.”
Ryan McDonagh restored the Lightning’s lead early in the third period for a 3-2 lead.
Dominik Kubalik forced extra time with the tying goal at the six-minute mark of the third.
“Going into the game, I knew I had 99 [goals],” DeBrincat said. “It’s a good feeling to get that one and then another one. Teammates are making good plays to pass me the puck, and I’m lucky for them to go in.”
Tampa dropped to 16-4-3.
Curtis McElhinney made 24 saves in the loss.
The Bolts hampered their own efforts with five penalties on the night.
“We have to continue to try and stay out of the penalty box,” McDonagh said. “We’ve had a good run on the [penalty kill], but you give a team like this, I think they have the No. 1 power play (No. 2, behind Toronto Maple Leafs), enough looks, it can change the momentum of a game. I think that’s one area we can get better at and be disciplined [at], it’s staying out the box. This is a tough challenge, we have one more crack at them in a couple days, and it should be a good one again.”
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