After registering just two shots in the first period of Game 4, their lowest single-period total of the postseason, the Blackhawks jumped out to a quick start in Game 5, testing Lightning goalie Ben Bishop very early on. By the 1:10 mark, the Hawks matched their Game 4 1st period total and outshot Tampa Bay 7-0 in the first 3:22.
Just under the 5-minute mark, the Blackhawks outshot the Lightning 9-1. Merely a minute later, Bishop’s brazen move to skate too far out of the crease resulted in a collision with fellow Bolt Victor Hedman. The collision left Bishop spread out on the ice, the net wide open, and an effortless goal scored by Chicago’s left wing Patrick Sharp.
“The puck bounced off the boards and I saw them going for a change and figured maybe we’d be able to catch them. Victor was coming for it and you can’t really hear anything in the building when it’s that loud and you saw the result,” Bishop communicated after the game. “I saw him coming, I thought he might have seen me, obviously he didn’t. Unfortunate. The first time this has happened and a bad time for it to happen.”
In the 2nd the Lightning started playing smarter, and more aggressively. Halfway in, Valtteri Filppula tied up the game. By the 3rd, the team was closing the SOG gap, hitting almost half of them in that 20-minute window. Then they seemed to completely fall apart. Could it have been the result of Coach Jon Cooper shifting his lines after losing right wing Nikita Kucherov who staggered off of the ice early in the 1st? In what could have led to a goal, Kucherv crashed into the goal post after tripping over Chicago goalie Corey Crawford. His neck and head made contact with the left post. He left after only 3 shifts into the game and never came back.
Blackhawks goaltender Corey Crawford made 31 saves, collecting his 44th career playoff win, one shy of Tony Esposito's franchise-record 45.
Overall, 10 of the past 12 games between the Lightning and Blackhawks, including the regular season, have been decided by one goal dating to March 9, 2011 (TBL: 8-3-1, CHI: 4-4-4).
All three Blackhawks wins in the Cup Final have been by a 2-1 score and marks the fifth consecutive on-goal game.
The Hawks are now one win away from their third Stanley Cup in 6 seasons. While the Lightning now face winning two games in a row, they hold an on-the-road playoff record of 8-4. When the Lightning are under pressure they always seem to play better. Just look at Game 7 against the Rangers.
Game 6 will be played at the United Center on Monday at 8PM ET. The game can be viewed on NBC, CBC, TVA Sports.
The Tampa Bay Lightning will host a Game 6 watch party inside of Amalie Arena. The road game will be shown live on the arena’s giant 28-by-50 foot video screens and seats will be available for free on a first-come-first-served basis.
Game 7, if necessary, will be played Wednesday at Amalie Arena.
This article appears in Jun 11-17, 2015.