The first five minutes of play in this one was controlled by the Lightning. All that pressure has payed off. At the 5:09 mark of the opening period, Ryan Callahan ripped sizzler off the post an in to give the Bolts a 1-0 lead. For Callahan, it was his 2nd of the playoffs. He got behind Chicago defenseman Johnny Oduya, who had slipped a second earlier, and took a slap shot from the top of the right circle into the top right corner of the net past Corey Crawford. It was that unmistakable sound of the puck going right off the post and in. That goal seemed to wake the Hawks up in the opening frame, as they dominated play the rest of the period. Towards the end of the period, Chicago got a powerplay, when Braydon Coburn was called for hooking. Big mistake, as it gave the Hawks powerplay room to work. Chicago had plenty of chances with that man advantage, before Brad Richards finally cashed in on it. Richards scored on a power play at 14:22 to make it 1-1, and for Richards it was his 3rd of the playoffs. The Hawks got traffic in front of Ben Bishop and he had trouble seeing the shots clearly.
To the Second period we go, both teams were caught trading chances. The best chance came at the 8:55 mark of the period when Nikita Kucherov got a clean breakaway, but was robbed point blank by Crawford on a fantastic play. Hedman had a great chance on a Tampa Powerplay but was kicked out by Crawford on a Lightning powerplay with about three minutes left in the frame. When the 3rd period started, the Blackhawks took control back of the hockey game. Chicago retook the lead, when at 4:14 of the 3rd, Marian Hossa slipped a pass from the left circle to Brandon Saad. Saad took a one-timer from the slot while going down to one knee. It was Saad's seventh goal of the postseason. It gave the Hawks a lead for the time being. While the Chicago goal was being announced to the crowd, Chicago won the faceoff, but Tampa Bay quickly gained possession in the neutral zone when defenseman Matt Carle poked the puck to Tyler Johnson. He got it to Nikita Kucherov, who swopped into the zone on the right wing and sent the puck toward the net. Crawford never quite got the handle on it and Ondrej Palat was there to punch it across the goal line. The goal came at 4:27 of the 3rd. For Palat, it was his eighth goal of this postseason, and the 31st by a member of "The Triplets" line.
Tampa just kept chipping away and chipping away. Then, with 3:11 left in the hockey game, this happened:
It was a beautiful rush by Hedman to get the open ice for Paquette, his 3rd of the post season. Chicago put on some late pressure but it was to no avail as the Bolts held on for the win.
Yes he did come back and play but Ben Bishop looked a little bit shaky in this hockey game. When Tampa scored, it was because the had pressure and net front presence, not allowing Bishop to be able to see the puck as it was heading towards the cage. When the Rangers were able to light the lamp against Tampa, they got traffic constantly in front of Bishop. Sure Chicago is getting traffic in front of the big Tampa netminder, but its not with much consistency. I think with time, the Hawks can find a way around it and possibly come back in the series.
No comments:
Post a Comment