Just like in game one, game two of the Stanley Cup Finals started with some fast and furious play, but neither goaltender was fazed for some time. These two teams play about as swift a pace as any in the NHL, and they generated a lot of shots before one would finally go in. It took 12:56 before we had our first goal, scored by one of the most unlikely of players on the Lightning. Cedric Paquette opened the scoring in this one with a goal off an odd bounce, assisted by Ryan Callahan and Victor Hedman. Initially it was an unassisted goal, but later the ruling was changed. Just like in game one, the Lightning took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission.
It did not take long in the second for the Chicago Blackhawks to answer. Andrew Shaw scored his fifth postseason goal to get the scoring started in the second and even the game up. Andrew Desjardins blasted one on net, it went of the pad of Ben Bishop and laid in the crease for a moment before Shaw was able to whack it in on an open net. Along with Desjardins, Marcus Kruger also assisted. Just over two minutes later, Chicago took advantage of a penalty by Alex Killorn and Teuvo Teravainen scored on the power play for his third point of this series. Marian Hossa and Patrick Sharp picked up the assists.
Just when it looked like Chicago had taken back the momentum, Corey Crawford let in a bad goal. Jason Garrison blasted a shot on net from near the blue line, it went off the stick of Nikita Kucherov and snuck in between the skate of Crawford and the post. Along with Garrison, Braydon Coburn assisted. For over seven minutes it was tied at two before Tyler Johnson scored his league high 13th postseason goal to break the tie. He put it on net and it slipped under Crawford's arm and in for a 3-2 lead, which is how they went to intermission. Kucherov assisted.
In the third, Chicago tied it up quickly. After a solid chance at one end for the Lightning, Chicago got up the ice quickly and Jonathan Toews left it for Brent Seabrook who blasted one from the blue line and Marian Hossa created enough of a distraction for Bishop to get it in. Bishop contended he was interfered with, but the goal stood. Along with Toews, Johnny Oduya assisted. Just over five minutes later, on the second of back to back penalties by Patrick Sharp, Jason Garrison put in the go ahead goal, assisted by Victor Hedman and Ryan Callahan. Shortly after, Bishop had to come off the ice, with what was thought to be an equipment issue. He came back in quickly, but then came back off with about eight minutes to play. The Blackhawks tried, but young Andrei Vasilevskiy stood tall for the Lightning and preserved the 4-3 win for the Lightning.
In addition to Vladislav Namistikov, a playoff regular for Tampa who was scratched in game one in favor of J.T. Brown, Nikita Nesterov was scratched in this one in favor of former third overall pick Jonathan Drouin, who made his presence felt on the fourth line in this game. Young Chicago defensemen Kyle Cumiskey and David Rundblad logged less than 13 combined minutes in this game. Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook have logged a ton of minutes so far in this postseason and are playing almost 30 minutes a game so far in this series. Can they continue to play at a high level at that volume of minutes against a team that plays such a pedal to the metal style? We'll find out.
Game three will be on Monday night in Chicago.