In Chicago, the Tampa Bay Lightning entered the third period holding a 3-2 lead over the Blackhawks.
Beginning at 1:51 of the third, the Lightning scored three in a span of 32 seconds to snuff out any hope that Chicago may have entertained.
Victor Hedman, Corey Perry and Mikhail Sergachev scored in the outburst.
“It’s crazy,” Hedman said. “We were shooting pucks, and good things happened. It felt quick. I didn’t know it was that quick. Credit to the guys for stepping on the gas in the beginning of the third period and putting the game to bed.”
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 24 saves in the Tampa win.
“It’s going to say Chicago scored three goals on [Vasilevskiy],” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. “That was one of the more remarkable goalie performances I’ve seen in a long time. There’s making big saves, but watch the highlights tonight of saves he made. That’s what kept us in it. Our work ethic is what propelled us to win it. We didn’t have that going at all in the first period.”
Patrick Kane, Alex DeBrincat and Dylan Strome were the Chicago strikers.
“First period, I thought we were fine,” Blackhawks coach Derek King said. “We played a good period. Second period too, I think if we score early, maybe it changes things, and then they come right back and that’s what they do. They strike and they strike fast, and it was just bang, bang, bang. Tough for us to climb out of that. We don’t have that depth of firepower.”
The Lightning improved to 37-12-6.
“We get running around,” King said. “They cycle the puck well, they shoot pucks a lot. We knew that. They have big bodies in front of the net, and this is the kind of stuff we need to do more of. So, hopefully we’ll show them clips of what they’re doing and we’ll follow suit.
“But I mean, I scored three in a minute and [18] seconds (with the New York Islanders against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Oct. 15, 1991). Did you know that? So, it can be done.”
Taylor Raddysh and Cal Foote also scored for the4 Lightning, Hedman hit for a double in the win.
“Anytime you can add to the offense, it’s nice,” Foote said. “Credit to [Nikita Kucherov], [Ryan McDonagh] and [Cirelli] on that play. It was all of them, and I was in the right spot at the right time.”
Marc-Andre Fleury made 26 saves in the Chicago loss.
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