It’s back to square one
Johnson, Vasilevskiy come up huge in series-tying victory
TAMPA, Fla. — Two goalies taking turns in the crease in the third period. A low-scoring defenseman getting the biggest goal of all.
The Lightning found some strange ways to even the Stanley Cup Final.
Jason Garrison scored the tiebreaking power-play goal with 11:11 to play, rookie goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy relieved Ben Bishop twice to earn the victory, and the Lightning beat the Blackhawks 4-3 in Game 2 on Saturday night to even the series.
Nikita Kucherov had a goal and an assist for the Lightning, who played with all the aggression they lacked in the third period of Game 1, when the Hawks rallied late to win.
Tyler Johnson and Cedric Paquette also scored for the Lightning, who curiously made three goalie changes in the third period. The 20-year-old Vasilevskiy twice replaced starter Bishop and made five saves in 9:13 to earn his first NHL playoff win.
Game 3 is Monday night in Chicago.
Vasilevskiy has 16 regular-season games of NHL experience, and he had played in just two games since March 31. But the Russian came in for 92 seconds before Garrison scored the go-ahead goal, and he returned to finish the game with 7:41 to play.
The Lightning didn’t say why Bishop left the game, came back and left again. He complained of interference on Brent Seabrook’s tying goal early in the third period but played on.
Andrew Shaw and Teuvo Teravainen scored 2:16 apart early in the second period for the Hawks.
Just over five minutes after Seabrook scored, Garrison put the Lightning ahead when his shot apparently deflected off a Hawks player in front of Corey Crawford, who stopped 20 shots in an uninspiring effort. The goal was just Garrison’s second of the postseason.
With his jarring No. 88 jersey and 45 previous minutes of NHL playoff experience, Vasilevskiy handled his surprise assignment splendidly. He made an outstanding pad save with less than five minutes to play as the Lightning killed a penalty, and he stayed strong to wrap up the victory.
The Lightning improved to 4-0 in Game 2 of their four postseason series after going 1-3 in Game 1.