Preview: Lightning at Blackhawks

[June 08, 2015]  An unexpected goaltending carousel has taken the Stanley Cup final on quite the spin as the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning prepare to play the Chicago Blackhawks in Game 3 on Monday. Ben Bishop, who recorded a franchise-best 40 victories this season, exited twice in the third period on Saturday for undisclosed reasons before rookie Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped all five shots he faced to help the Lightning even the series.

"I hate to be that guy," Cooper said moments after Tampa Bay's 4-3 triumph in Game 2. "I know I talk way too much when I get up here, but I will not answer a question about the goaltending or what happened (Saturday)." The following day provided plenty of talk from members of the Lightning without shedding light on either the reason for Bishop's departure or which netminder will get the nod on Monday. Chicago's goaltending situation hardly is without issue, as Corey Crawford yielded four tallies - including goals to defenseman Jason Garrison and Tyler Johnson that could be considered soft at best. "You can't give those up in these games," the two-time William Jennings Trophy recipient said. "That's two goals I pretty much just gave them and gave them momentum back."

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ABOUT THE LIGHTNING: After being held in check in the series opener, the vaunted "Triplets" line made its presence felt in Game 2 - highlighted by Johnson's franchise-best 13th goal of the playoffs. Nikita Kucherov collected a goal and an assist and Ondrej Palat was a plus-2 for Tampa Bay, which has seen that line account for 30 of the team's 60 goals in the postseason. Cooper dismissed that Johnson was struggling during his five-game goal drought, noting that "you can't score every single night. It's really hard, unless your name's (Wayne) Gretzky."

ABOUT THE BLACKHAWKS: Like Crawford, Patrick Sharp also would like to put Saturday's dismal performance behind him. Sharp was whistled for both a slashing and high-sticking penalty 2:18 apart in the third period, with the latter paving the way for Garrison's eventual game-winning goal. "It was something I don't think I've ever done before," Sharp said of committing the consecutive penalties. "... I take responsibility and apologize to our penalty killers for putting them under such stress." On Sunday, coach Joel Quenneville noted that defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk and forward Bryan Bickell could play in Game 3, marking their first action in the Stanley Cup final.

OVERTIME

1. Chicago rookie C Teuvo Teravainen has collected four goals and five assists in 14 playoff games to match his same total of production in 34 regular-season contests.

2. Tampa Bay C Alex Killorn has recorded 17 points in 22 playoff games after notching 38 in 71 regular-season contests.

3. Blackhawks superstar RW Patrick Kane, who was held without a shot on goal in Game 2, has yet to record a point in the Stanley Cup final after securing a team-high 20 in the previous three rounds.

PREDICTION: Blackhawks 3, Lightning 2

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