Chicago’s Teuvo Teravainen and Antoine Vermette both scored within two minutes late in the third period to lift the Blackhawks to a 2-1 win over Tampa Bay in Wednesday’s opening game of the NHL’s Stanley Cup.
Goaltender Corey Crawford made 22 saves for the Blackhawks, who are chasing their third NHL title in six seasons and exhibited more of the clutch scoring on which they have built a championship team.
“You just learn not to panic and keep working hard,” Crawford said. “Stick to your game plan, and we’ll get our chances.”
For most of the game, nothing worked for Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane — but with those two stars off the ice and the clock dwindling, Chicago’s role players delivered to crush the Amalie Arena crowd celebrating Tampa Bay’s first trip to the Final since winning the 2004 title.
Finnish center Teravainen scored through traffic with 6 minutes, 32 seconds to play, and Vermette got the winner in the slot with 4:34 left.
“We got better as the game went on,” Chicago coach Joel Quenneville said. “Huge goal through traffic, and then a nice shot by Vermy. Turned out to be a great third period... Finding a way to win is what this team is all about.”
Game 2 is tomorrow in Tampa.
Lightning goaltender Ben Bishop stopped 19 shots and Alex Killorn scored in the opening minutes for the hosts, who came close to a gritty shutout victory. Until Teravainen’s goal through a two-man screen, the youthful Lightning gave a stellar defensive effort against Chicago’s high-powered offense in front of a frenzied home crowd.
“We really didn’t give them much the entire game,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. “Could we have made a few more poised plays? I guess we could have, but we had chances to put them away, and that was letting them hang around.”
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