Lightning beat Blackhawks, take 33 shots in the second period

The Tampa Bay Lightning sure lived up to their name — and reputation as one of the NHL’s quickest teams.

Brayden Point had a goal and two assists and the Lightning peppered the Chicago Blackhawks with 33 shots in a threegoal second period in a 63 victory Sunday night.

The 33 shots are the most in the NHL in a period since 1997-98, when shots by period became an official statistic.

“We had a lot of low plays, a lot of rebounds that were probably racking up some shot totals,” coach Jon Cooper said. “And everything was hitting the net. You need a lot to go right for something like that to happen. That’s why it doesn’t happen very often.”

Nikita Kucherov and Victor Hedman each had a goal and assist, and Anthony Cirelli and Yanni Gourde also scored as Tampa Bay fired a teamrecord 55 shots. Ryan Callahan added an emptynetter with 2:05 left.

“We were flooding the ice,” Gourde said. “We worked as a unit of five. It’s great for everybody. Feel the puck, have a few touches, direct pucks at the net.”

Blackhawks rookie Alexandre Fortin scored his first NHL goal to tie it late in the first, but the Lightning took charge with their speed and exploited Chicago mistakes to skate away with the win. David Kampf and Nick Schmaltz scored late in the third period to allow Chicago to close it to 5-3, but the Lightning’s second-period blitz had sealed the outcome.

“(The second) was a tough period in a lot of aspects,” Chicago coach Joel Quennville said. “I don’t think we touched the puck at all.”

Cam Ward got the start in goal for Chicago and made 49 saves as the Blackhawks played their third game in four days.

Corey Crawford was solid in Chicago’s previous two contests, including a 4-1 win at Columbus on Saturday, as he returned from a concussion that had sidelined him since last December.

In this one, Ward’s head was spinning after he stopped 30 shots in the second to keep it respectable.

“It’s pretty rare to be seeing that much work in a period,” Ward said. “We know that we need to be better, especially in our home building, and play with some pride and some passion. Unfortunately, it seemed like it was lacking at times tonight.”