The Tampa Bay Lightning used a four-goal third period, including two from Tyler Johnson in a 30 second span, to rally from a one-goal deficit and defeat the Chicago Blackhawks 5-2 Tuesday at United Center.
Chicago took advantage of early Lightning mistakes to get on the board first, including a turnover by Nikita Nesterov that directly led to Jonathan Towes' ninth goal of the year to make it 1-0.
Tampa Bay finally got the gears going late in the first, putting pressure on Corey Crawford before Brian Boyle split the Blackhawks defenders and beat Crawford for his 12th goal of the season to tie things up with less than 90 seconds to play in the period.
The Blackhawks regained the lead early in the second, as early pressure led to a one-timer by Duncan Keith past Vasilevskiy, his third goal of the year, to break the tie.
Boyle had a pair of opportunities later in the period to try and even the game again, but Crawford made a pair of top-quality saves.
Tampa Bay's offense came to life early in the third, as Nesterov's one-timer ended up again tying the game. For the Lightning defenseman, it was his third goal of the year.
The Bolts then took the lead four minutes later, when Johnson's wrist shot beat Crawford for his 14th goal of the year.
Johnson extended the lead just 30 seconds later, as Alex Killorn again fed Johnson for the goal.
Nikita Kucherov's empty-net goal with just over two minutes to play capped the scoring.
The Lightning improve to 2-2-1 on their six game road trip, which wraps up Thursday in Sunrise, when they take on the Florida Panthers. Face-off is scheduled for 7:30, and can be heard on 970 WFLA.
NOTES: Tampa Bay improved to 8-0-2 in its last ten regular season games against Chicago. The Blackhawks were 16-0-1 when leading after two periods prior to Tuesday.
SCORING SUMMARY
1st period
- CHI: GOAL - Jonathan Toews (9). ASSISTS - Panik, Hartman. TIME - 10:23
- TBL: GOAL - Brian Boyle (12). ASSIST - Filppula. TIME - 18:35
2nd Period
- CHI: GOAL - Duncan Keith (3). ASSISTS - Panarin, Toews. TIME - 1:26
3rd Period
- TBL: GOAL - Nikita Nesterov (3). ASSIST - Boyle. TIME - 2:47
- TBL: GOAL - Tyler Johnson (14). ASSISTS - Killorn, Filppula. TIME - 6:14
- TBL: GOAL - Tyler Johnson (15). ASSIST - Killorn. TIME - 6:44
- TBL: GOAL (EN) - Nikita Kucherov (18). ASSISTS - none. TIME - 17:55