Stanley Cup Final Game 3 recap and highlights: Lightning defeat Blackhawks, 3-2 (video)
Recap and highlights from Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Chicago Blackhawks.
The Stanley Cup Final between Tampa Bay and Chicago moved to the Windy City for a pivotal Game 3 on Monday night. Unlike the previous two contests, this matchup got out of the gates much quicker with both teams scoring in the first period.
Ryan Callahan opened things up with a crossbar shot that put Tampa Bay on the scoreboard first.
The Blackhawks had plenty of shots on goal during the first period, but couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn (or the back of an empty net).
That is, until Brad Richards uncorked a screamer from the blue line.
The first period ended with the teams knotted in a 1-1 tie.
Though the second period didn’t feature any scoring, it was flush with action. Each team spent minutes at a time controlling the puck and ripping off shots on goal. Both Ben Bishop and Corey Crawford were on their heels, but kept stonewalling opponents.
And an already dinged up Bishop took a shot to the head from Brandon Saad.
With the score knotted at 1-1 heading into the third period, things then got a little wacky.
After some spectacular passing by Chicago, Brandon Saad banged home a beautiful wrister 4:14 into the final period.
Not 13 seconds later, the Lightning stormed the ice and tied things up with this push by Ondrej Palat.
Following the momentum-killer, Chicago’s bench was crestfallen.
The game of shadow continued for 12 more minutes until Cedric Paquette stunned the home crowd with a sharp finish.
Chicago would pull Crawford with around 90 seconds left in the contest, but couldn’t muster any late-game heroics this time around. Flipping the script from Game 1, Tampa Bay was the team scoring twice in the final period to secure a victory.
The final score was Tampa Bay: 3 Chicago: 2. With the victory, the Lightning reclaimed home-ice advantage, having now won the past two games in the series.
Game 3 will take place on Wednesday night at the United Center in Chicago. The puck drops at 8 p.m. ET, and you can catch the contest on NBC Sports.
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