@jayRecher

Ondrej Palat, Alex Killorn, Blake Coleman, Yanni Gourde and Steven Stamkos each scored and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 34 saves as the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 4-2 on Friday night at Amalie Arena to improve to 2-0 on the season.

After a pretty even 1st period, it didn't take long for the Lightning to jump out in front in the 2nd.

Lightning captain Steven Stamkos stole the puck from Chicago netminder Collin Delia behind the net and fed it out to Palat in front and the Tampa Bay winger fired it into the open net to give the Bolts a 1-0 lead.

Just over two minutes later, the Lightning doubled their lead when Killorn took a pass in the high slot from Tyler Johnson and snapped one over the glove of Delia to make it 2-0.

Coleman made it 3-0 on a scramble play in front of the net at the 8:11 mark. The Blackhawks challenged the call on the ice, but the goal stood and they were assessed a delay of game penalty.

Alex DeBrincat scored a power play goal for Chicago at 14:20 of the 2nd period to get the visitors on the board and Patrick Kane followed up with a backhander over the glove of Vasilevskiy under two minutes later to cut the Lightning lead to 3-2.

Gourde doubled the Lightning lead at the 13:32 mark of the 3rd, snapping a shot high over the blocker of Delia after a nifty feed from his linemate Coleman.

Stamkos extended the lead late in the 3rd period with a shot over the glove of Delia just moments after the Captain hustled all the way back to break up a 2-on-1 scoring attempt for the Blackhawks.

Delia stopped 33 of 38 shots for Chicago in defeat.

THAT WAS A CLOSE ONE : Just past the midway point of the 1st period, Lightning defenseman Mikhail Sergachev got tangled up in the offensive zone and had a really tough time getting off of the ice. He looked to be helped back to the locker room, but he came right back on the power play and didn't miss a shift.

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SCORING SUMMARY

1st Period

NONE

2nd Period

Tampa Bay - Palat - (Stamkos) - 2:25
Tampa Bay - Killorn - (Johnson, Cirelli) - 4:43
Tampa Bay - Coleman - (Goodrow, Gourde) - 8:11
Chicago - PPG - DeBrincat - (Strome, Boqvist) - 14:20
Chicago - Kane - (DeBrincat) - 16:11

3rd Period

Tampa Bay - Gourde - (Coleman, Goodrow) - 13:32
Tampa Bay - Stamkos - (Palat, Point) - 17:38

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PENALTY SUMMARY

1st Period

Chicago - Keith - (Holding) - 12:28

2nd Period

Chicago - TEAM - (Delay of Game) - 8:11
Tampa Bay - Goodrow - (Tripping) - 13:29
Tampa Bay - Killorn - (Interference) - 19:37

3rd Period

Tampa Bay - Point - (Holding) - 2:09
Chicago - Kampf - (Hooking) - 9:50
Tampa Bay - Sergachev - (Interference) - 14:40

**

What's Next For The Bolts : The Lightning are back in action next Thursday night as they travel to Columbus to take on the Blue Jackets. Puck drop is slated for 7pm with the pregame show starting at 6:30pm on our sister station NewsRadio WFLA.

Beckles & Recher