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 The Lightning (26-17-4) gave up a goal in the first minute and
controlled the rest of the game, limiting Chicago (32-14-4) to a
season-low 18 shots.
Right wing Nikita Kucherov's power play goal late in the second
period was the winner and Tampa Bay goaltender Ben Bishop had 17
saves.
"They're a really good team, and we had to play extremely well to
beat them," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "I would trade what
happened tonight for what for what they took from us last year.
"We wanted these two points tonight. One streak was ending tonight.
I'm glad it was theirs. We have to keep this going."
The two teams previously met in Chicago in October, with the
Blackhawks prevailing 1-0 in overtime.
The Lightning killed off two Chicago power plays in the final period
to keep the lead and got a power play of their own at 7:22. As the
Lightning advanced the puck, Chicago defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson
came off the bench and blindsided Lightning right wing Ryan
Callahan, and the Blackhawks were called for having too many men on
the ice.
Chicago scored in the opening minute of the game, but it was Tampa
Bay that dominated the first two periods, holding the Blackhawks to
nine total shots and taking the lead with 3:21 left in the second.
The Blackhawks scored on their first shot of the game 43 seconds
into play, taking the 1-0 lead on center Artem Anisimov's 17th goal
of the season, with right winger Patrick Kane getting his 42nd
assist on the play.
"They checked real well, all game," Anisimov said. "We need to go
harder. (Crawford) is a terrific goalie, made big saves. He made big
saves tonight to keep us in the game. We needed to finish."
The Lightning answered quickly, tying the game with 12:46 left as
defenseman Anton Stralman redirected a long shot from defenseman
Victor Hedman past Chicago goalie Corey Crawford. The goal was
Stralman's sixth of the season.
"It was tough," Crawford said. "They played a really fast game, came
out hard, had some momentum early on. We made some penalties we
could have avoided that gave them even more momentum. We didn't play
that bad. It's just they have a lot of skill and when you give a
team a lot of chances on the power play, you'd rather be playing
five on five obviously."
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Tampa Bay outshot the Blackhawks 22-9 in the first two periods, but
didn't get the lead back until what amounted to a four-minute power
play -- Kane was called for high sticking, and as Chicago killed off
the penalty, a pass went to Kane and he touched the puck while he
still had a skate in the penalty box, resulting in an interference
penalty. With eight seconds left in that power play, Kucherov fired
a shot to the top right corner of the net for his 20th goal of the
season and a 2-1 lead. Hedman got his second assist of the game,
giving him a team-best 24 for the season.
"You play the defending champs, and they've won 12 straight, they've
been red hot, but other than that, it was Game 47," Hedman said.
"We're looking forward to the next game."
NOTES: The Blackhawks played without RW Richard Panik, who overslept
and missed Thursday's morning practice, making him a healthy
scratch. Panik had two goals and an assist in five games since being
acquired from Toronto. Chicago also had LW Jiri Sekac as a healthy
scratch. Sekac, 23, was acquired earlier Thursday in a trade with
Anaheim for veteran F Ryan Garbett, 30. ... The Lightning, rotating
through their last forward spot, had C Jonathan Marchessault active
with RW Erik Condra a healthy scratch. Condra had two penalties in
Tuesday's win against Edmonton. ... Tampa Bay D Matthew Carle was a
healthy scratch.
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