Record 33-shot period powers Lightning past Blackhawks

[October 22, 2018]  The Tampa Bay Lightning set a modern NHL record with 33 shots in the second period as they cruised to a 6-3 win over the host Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday evening.

Brayden Point had one goal and two assists to lead the Lightning, while Nikita Kucherov and Victor Hedman each finished with a goal and an assist. Yanni Gourde, Anthony Cirelli and Ryan Callahan also scored for Tampa Bay, which has five wins in its first seven games.

Tampa Bay's 33-shot period marked the most since the NHL started counting shots on goal as an official statistic in the 1955-56 campaign. Both the 2017-18 Montreal Canadiens and the 2018-19 Dallas Stars shared the previous modern record with 30 shots in a period.

Alexandre Fortin, David Kampf and Nick Schmaltz scored for Chicago, which was outshot 55-36 in the game.

Lightning goaltender Louis Domingue made 33 saves to improve to 2-0-0 in a rare start in place of Andrei Vasilevskiy.

Blackhawks goaltender Cam Ward dropped to 3-1-2 despite making 49 saves.

Tampa Bay opened the scoring 3:21 into the first period. Kucherov skated behind Blackhawks defenseman Brent Seabrook and lifted a backhand shot past Ward for his second goal of the season and the 149th of his career.

Chicago evened the score at 1 on a breakaway goal by Fortin with 8:20 left in the first period. Jan Rutta zipped a long pass to lead Fortin, who buried a forehand shot for his first career goal. The 21-year-old rookie thought he had his first goal one night earlier, but a late scoring change rendered him with an assist instead.

Blackhawks goaltender Cam Ward (30) warms up prior to a game against the Tampa Bay Lightning at United Center. Mandatory Credit: Patrick Gorski-USA TODAY Sports

The Lightning scored three goals during a wild second period in which they had a 33-6 advantage in shots on goal.

Cirelli started the flurry when he punched in a loose puck near the net at 4:22.

A power-play goal by Gourde increased Tampa Bay's lead to 3-1 with 7:53 remaining in the period. Less than two minutes later, Point turned to his backhand to flip a shot past Ward for his fifth goal in seven contests.

Hedman made it 5-1 when he scored on a wrist shot midway through the third period.

Chicago scored twice in the final five minutes. Kampf knocked in a one-timer with 4:43 to go, and Schmaltz followed suit with 3:48 remaining.

Callahan capped the scoring with an empty-net goal with 2:05 left.

--Field Level Media

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