CHICAGO — Coach Jon Cooper considers the Blackhawks a "benchmark," one of the few elite teams in the league.
So despite entering Tuesday's matchup at the United Center with a six-game winning streak, and tied for the most points in the league, the Lightning felt Chicago served as a measuring stick.
But goalie Ben Bishop said Tuesday's 3-2 shootout loss turned into an "eye-opener." The Lightning was dominated for the first half of the game, fortunate to steal a point thanks to the spectacular play of Bishop, who made 37 saves.
If this was indeed a Stanley Cup Final preview, as The Hockey News predicted before the season, Tampa Bay has some work to do.
"You can't come out the way we did in the first period," Cooper said. "We probably read the press clippings, said, 'Oh these guys are a really good team,' and watched them play hockey for 20 minutes. …
"We showed for some of the game we're more than capable of playing with those guys. But if you want to win two points, you've got to play a little bit more than 30 minutes."
The Lightning (11-4-2) snapped its winning streak, but was encouraged to take five of six points on a three-game road trip through Columbus, Detroit and Chicago. But it lost another forward, points leader Tyler Johnson, who got cross checked in the ribs in the third period and didn't return; Cooper said Johnson will be re-evaluated Wednesday.
This one was ugly early. The Blackhawks outshot Tampa Bay 19-6 in the first period, with the Lightning spending a huge chunk of it short-handed (thanks to three penalties).
"Obviously our start was horrible," defenseman Matt Carle said. "That first period was pretty bad. They really took it to us."
But the Lightning took the lead four minutes in, scoring a goal on its first shot, with Cedric Paquette tallying a short-handed tally on a 2-on-1; it was his fourth goal in the past four games. The Lightning penalty kill, which allowed five goals in the previous two games, held Chicago to 0-for-6 Tuesday.
"Outstanding," Cooper said.
So was Bishop, whose performance was similar to his last trip to the United Center, when he racked up 37 saves to lift Tampa Bay to a 3-2 shootout win Oct. 5, 2013.
"He stood on his head," Carle said. "Without him tonight it would have been a way different game."
The Blackhawks did tie it midway through the second. Just after a Chicago power play, Anton Stralman shoved Kris Versteeg, who ran into Bishop, dislodging the goalie's stick. Former Lightning star Brad Richards appeared to hit a falling Versteeg with his first shot, but flicked the rebound past a sprawling and stickless Bishop.
"It's frustrating, it's very frustrating,'' Bishop said. "You'll have to ask the refs, if Stralman pushes him into me, they can't call it no goal, that's a rule, but it's unfair. You would like to have a fair chance to make the save and when they score like that . . . it would have been nice to win the game 2-1.''
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Explore all your optionsThe Blackhawks took the lead early in the third, just after another power play, when an innocent point shot by Niklas Hjalmarsson was deflected in by Marcus Kruger. But the Lightning tied it midway through the final period, with Steven Stamkos sending a cross-crease pass to Nikita Kucherov, who scored his sixth of the season. Bishop helped force overtime by thwarting Jonathan Toews' breakaway. Cooper felt Tampa Bay dictated play in the third, when it outshot Chicago 11-7.
"Am I encouraged on how we played in the third period, sure I am,'' Cooper said. "We are down a goal and I thought you could maybe argue that we dictated play in the third period and we had a pretty good overtime. But they weathered the storm, our goalie kept us in and we snuck out with a point.''
Blackhawks | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
Lightning | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
Blackhawks win shootout 1-0 |
First Period—1, Tampa Bay, Paquette 4 (Palat, Brewer), 4:35 (sh). Penalties—Stralman, TB (delay of game), 3:22; Sustr, TB (hooking), 8:43; Brewer, TB (cross-checking), 14:57.
Second Period—2, Chicago, Richards 3 (Versteeg, Saad), 9:13. Penalties—Filppula, TB (tripping), 7:09; B.Smith, Chi (goaltender interference), 9:41; Brown, TB, served by Drouin, double minor (roughing), 17:10; Morin, Chi (roughing), 17:10; Brewer, TB (high-sticking), 19:00.
Third Period—3, Chicago, Kruger 2 (Hjalmarsson, Hossa), 1:18. 4, Tampa Bay, Kucherov 6 (Stamkos, Drouin), 9:53. Penalties—Hjalmarsson, Chi (slashing), 1:45; Seabrook, Chi (cross-checking), 5:11; Paquette, TB (roughing), 11:16; Morin, Chi (roughing), 11:16.
Overtime—None. Penalties—None.
Shootout—Tampa Bay 0 (Callahan NG, Kucherov NG), Chicago 1 (Toews NG, Kane G, Richards NG). Shots on Goal—Tampa Bay 6-7-11-3—27. Chicago 19-12-7-1—39. Power-play opportunities—Tampa Bay 0 of 3; Chicago 0 of 6. Goalies—Tampa Bay, Bishop 9-1-2 (39 shots-37 saves). Chicago, Crawford 6-3-1 (27-25). A—21,345 (19,717). T—2:49. Referees—Francis Charron, Justin St. Pierre. Linesmen—Steve Barton, Bryan Pancich.