Lightning Rally Together, Go Up 2-1

You probably know this already, but Ben Bishop did indeed start for the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday night, as expected earlier in the day.  It wasn't pretty, that's for sure, but nevertheless, it was effective.

Noticeably in pain throughout the game, Bishop was slow to get back up after dropping to his knees, predominantly on his left side, but he was still able to push through the pain, making 36 saves in the 3-2 victory, earning the 2-1 series lead that the Lightning now hold.

It did seem like overkill on the idea that Bishop was playing hurt, but given the nature of the position and how important it has been in previous Cup wins, it was really hard to even look away.  Nevertheless, Bishop's team rallied for him, scoring the opening goal, five minutes into the game, on a rocket blast from Ryan Callahan.

The early Lightning goal did faze the home crowd for the Blackhawks, but some 1st period penalty trouble caught up to the Bolts, when Brad Richards finally evened the score for the home side, blasting one through Bishop's somewhat suspect glove hand.

The 1st period wasn't exactly a defensive rally for the Lightning keeper, as the Blackhawks were able to pepper Bishop with 19 shots on goal and it seemed like only a matter of time before the flood gates would open and this series would fall into the laps of the Blackhawks.

The middle frame was a completely different story, however, as the Lightning and the Blackhawks were both held off the scoresheet and Tampa won the period's shot total, taking it 17-7 and giving a break to their number one guy in the crease.  All of a sudden, things were looking a bit better for Tampa, as they were playing like they could actually pull this one out with a little bit more patience.

Sure enough, nothing is ever quite what it seems in these playoffs, as Brandon Saad rifled a shot from the slot, as the Lightning were chasing early in the 3rd period and the home side was up 2-1 and there was an electricity in the air... for about 13 playable seconds.  The Tampa rally didn't take long to chime back in, as the triplet line came back down the ice, stormed the net and it was Ondrej Palat who shoveled in the tying goal, nullifying the crowd noise in a big hurry.

With the game remaining tight into the last few minutes of play in the 3rd period, Victor Hedman, who earlier made a blinding pass to Callahan on the opening goal of the game, made a rush of his own from his own end, down deep into the Chicago zone and throwing a pass into the slot, against the grain, allowing Cedric Paquette to tap home the eventual winner and the Lightning were not denied in their rally for their goaltender.

The game was fairly electric, from start to finish, as these two teams continued to skate at such a high pace, it was a pleasant surprise that a great show of skating ability led to a winning goal in the end.

Tampa will now face a surly Chicago team on Wednesday night, when Game 4 is expected to go in Chicago.

In the pool, the Bolts had Callahan, Hedman and Bishop each picking up 2 points a piece, while Marian Hossa had a couple of helpers in the game for the Blackhawks.  I don't think there were very many with that combination of players in the pool at all.

In the standings, it was a good night for Thor, who actually had three out of the four players with 2 points each, only missing out on Callahan's points.  Thor's team lifted well above Jesse's with the win, as he now has a 4-point gap, thanks to the 6-point night.

Jesse was only able to pick up a single point, a Nikita Kucherov assist on the 2-2 goal.

The leader in these Cup Finals for points, thus far, is Tom H., who has picked up 12 points and sits in 10th place in the standings.  His team has Callahan and Hedman, who each have 4 points so far in the series, while also having Duncan Keith, who has 2 points as well.