In Chicago, Seth Jones scored for the Blackhawks to give them a 1-0 lead over the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first period on Tuesday night.
Pat Maroon tied the game for the Lightning before the end of the first.
The game remained that way until Brandon Hagel assisted Alex Killorn;s third period goal that gave the Lightning a 2-1 lead.
Hagel then pushed the lead to 3-1 with a goal of his own.
“Obviously it’s a good feeling,” Hagel said. “It’s good to play, and it’s good to get one, I guess. It was obviously a little bit emotional; it was where my career started. This is the organization that gave me the opportunity to live my dream. I played a hundred-and-some games here. It was weird coming back and a little emotional, but I’m glad it went the way it went.”
Brian Elliott made 25 saves in the Tampa win.
“It’s great; we’ve got another big game [Wednesday],” Killorn said. “Obviously, a loss tonight would have been difficult going into a back to back.”
Chicago dropped to 8-25-4.
“It’s a fine line,” Jones said. “We’re not going to accept losing by any means, these results that we’re getting. But at the same time, we’re not going to do ourselves any favors by coming into the rink every day and pouting about it and hoping that someone comes to save us.
“It’s got to be within the leaders in this room and really everyone in this room to play a little bit better every night, bring a little bit more, and that’s the only way we’re going to get through this.”
The Lightning improved to 24-11-1.
“The big thing for us was we got out of that first period tied 1-1,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. “We were a little flat. I don’t know if it was a long day in the hotel. We didn’t come to the rink this morning.
“Give Chicago credit; they pushed on us. But Elliott made some big saves for us in the first and kept it close. You get to the third period tied, and you’re tempting fate a little bit.”
Nicholas Paul hit an empty-net goal for the 4-1 final.
Alex Stalock made 25 saves in the Chicago loss.
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