Lightning beat Blackhawks to level Stanley Cup series
Garrison powerplay winner levels series
TAMPA: Jason Garrison scored the eventual game winner on a powerplay as the Tampa Bay Lightning held on to beat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-3 in Game Two of the Stanley Cup finals on Saturday.
Garrison and Nikita Kucherov each had a goal and an assist for the Lightning, who evened the best-of-seven NHL championship series at 1-1.
Cedric Paquette and Tyler Johnson, with his league-leading 13th of the postseason, also scored and Ben Bishop and Andrei Vasilevskiy combined for 26 saves as the Lightning learned from their mistakes and did a better job pressing the attack than they did in a 2-1 Game One loss.
“We had more pushback tonight,” said Lightning coach Jon Cooper.
Andrew Shaw, Brent Seabrook and Teuvo Teravainen scored for the Blackhawks, who are seeking to win their third Stanley Cup in the past six years having won in 2013 and 2010.
Chicago defenceman Duncan Keith was held scoreless, snapping his play-off point streak at five games.
The series now switches to Chicago for Game Three today.
The Lightning were guilty of sitting back in Game One when they had the lead but on Saturday they did a better job of taking advantage of their speed.
“In Game One, we were a little bit hesitant and we weren’t making the plays we wanted,” said Johnson.
“We sat back and Chicago is such a good team that if you give them that much space they are going to hurt you.”
Chicago netminder Corey Crawford stopped 20 shots but had an off-night, looking out of position or sluggish on a couple of the Lightning goals. He faced just two shots in the third.
Bishop started the game for Tampa but had to leave for good late in the third period with an undisclosed problem.
The 20-year-old Russian rookie Vasilevskiy came in cold and stopped all five shots he faced, including a couple of key ones with the Blackhawks buzzing around his net in the final minute with the game on the line.
“Every game I am ready if the coach tells me to go in I just go in,” said Vasilevskiy.
Chicago’s Patrick Sharp was called for high-sticking at 7:17 of the third, and Bishop left the net at that time and went into the locker room, with Vasilevskiy taking over.
Tampa defenceman Victor Hedman sent a pass to Garrison who rifled a blast that deflected off the stick of Chicago’s Andrew Desjardins and snuck past Crawford with 11:11 to play.
Bishop then came back into the net, but left again just over three minutes later and Vasilevskiy took over.
Tampa forward Steven Stamkos said he didn’t realise Bishop was out of the game until he heard the announcement to the crowd.
“I heard the PA announcer going back and forth with announcing who was in net. I don’t know what was up,” Stamkos said.
Sharp ended up being a liability for Chicago as he took back-to-back bad penalties in the third, including the costly one that led to Garrison’s game winner.
The Lightning are in the Stanley Cup finals for the first time since winning it in 2004.