TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – The latest from Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final:
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8:57 p.m. EDT
Tampa Bay has a 1-0 lead over Chicago after one period in Game 1. The Blackhawks struggled to hold onto the puck for much of the early going, but picked up their play when coach Joel Quenneville tried a line of Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Brandon Saad with five minutes to go.
Backed by defensemen Duncan Keith and David Runblad, the group applied sustained pressure in the Lightning zone for about 30 seconds. A minute later, Lightning defenseman Jason Garrison was penalized for cross-checking.
The Lightning killed off the penalty, but the Blackhawks finally gained a semblance of momentum after playing much of the first 15 minutes of the opening period inside their own zone.
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8:49 p.m. EDT
The Lightning were outshooting the Blackhawks 10-3 through 14 minutes of the first period, and also have the 1-0 edge on the scoreboard.
Tampa Bay is 9-0 this postseason when scoring the opening goal. It was 35-7-4 in such games during the regular season in winning a franchise-best 50 games.
The Blackhawks, by comparison, are 3-4 this postseason when allowing the first goal, and were 13-19-4 in such games in the regular season.
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8:38 p.m. EDT
Tampa Bay’s Alex Killorn scored the first goal of the Stanley Cup Final. The versatile forward has emerged as an elite forward with eight goals so far in the postseason, continuing his rapid rise since his four-year career at Harvard.
Like Ned Braden in the classic hockey film ”Slap Shot,” Killorn knows some of his Ivy League classmates wondered why he was interested in riding buses in the minor leagues while they went on to high-paying jobs. Now that he’s a top-six forward on the Eastern Conference champions, things have changed.
”I look at what my friends are doing right now, sitting in offices from 5 in the morning until 9 at night, and I’m pretty happy with what I’m doing,” he said Tuesday.
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8:18 p.m. EDT
When it comes to the race for the Stanley Cup, Game 1 is an important one.
Since 1939, the winner of the opening game has gone on to claim the Cup 58 times, while the Game 1 loser has rallied to win just 17, according to STATS. The Game 1 winner has taken each of the last three finals and seven of the past nine.
Of course, keep in mind the Lightning were an exception when they won the title in 2004. They lost the opener 4-1 to Calgary before winning the series in seven games.
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7:58 p.m. EDT
Blackhawks forward Bryan Bickell, who got hurt in Game 7 of the Western Conference finals, has been ruled out for the Stanley Cup opener. Assistant coach Mike Kitchen tells NHL Network it is a precautionary move, and Kris Versteeg will take his place.
Versteeg was in Toronto on Monday to be with his wife, Brittany, for the birth of their first child, son Jaxson James Versteeg. A few hours later, Versteeg rejoined his teammates in Florida.
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7:55 p.m. EDT
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has few major problems with his league as the Stanley Cup Final gets underway in a model Sun Belt market, but he took time in his state-of-the-league news conference to address perceived problems with two other warm-weather clubs.
Bettman said he believes the Florida Panthers ”are on the absolute right track” under owner Vincent Viola, dismissing rumors of relocation or bankruptcy as complete fiction.
As for the perpetually struggling Arizona Coyotes, Bettman insists he isn’t worried about continuing financial problems since the league sold the team: ”The club is not going anywhere.”
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7:20 p.m. EDT
And now for some notes:
-The Lighting became the first team to team in the NHL’s expansion era to beat three Original Six franchises (Detroit, Montreal and the New York Rangers) to reach the Stanley Cup Final. There is only one left standing in their way, Chicago, after the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs failed to qualify for the postseason.
-The Blackhawks are 1-2-4 in their past seven meetings against the Lightning, and haven’t defeated Tampa Bay in regulation since a 4-0 win at Chicago on Dec. 13, 2009. They also are 0-1-3 in their last four visits to Tampa Bay since a 5-3 win on Feb. 17, 2009.
-Chicago converted five of 26 power-play opportunities against Anaheim in the Western Conference finals, and is 10 of 51 overall. The Blackhawks are 7-0 this postseason when they score on the man advantage. For the Lightning, after converting just two of 34 chances in their first eight playoff games, they have gone 14 of 38 in their past 12 games.
-Explain this: Lightning goalie Ben Bishop has allowed 15 goals on 78 shots in his last three home playoff games – all losses. By comparison, Bishop has stopped all 48 shots he has faced in his past two road games.
-The Blackhawks have 17 players who have won a combined 24 Stanley Cup titles. The Lightning have just six players who have appeared in the final, with Valtteri Filppula the only one to win a Cup, with the 2008 Red Wings.
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7:01 p.m. EDT
Yeah, so about those plans to limit ticket sales to Blackhawks fans in Tampa …
It’s about 75 minutes before the opening faceoff of the Stanley Cup Final, and the visiting team’s tunnel at Amalie Arena is surrounded by several dozen fans in red Blackhawks jerseys. The same jerseys and their black counterparts already are all over the arena, which just opened its doors several minutes ago.
The Lightning have a policy prohibiting ticket purchases with a credit card linked to a state other than Florida, and the club has a policy against wearing the opposing team’s logo on two of Amalie Arena’s club levels.
None of it stopped the Blackhawks’ fans from turning out in droves, a development that surprises nobody – not even NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, who has no problem with the policy.
”I believe that the Lightning are attempting to create as good a home atmosphere as possible,” Bettman said before the opener. ”The interesting thing is they apparently have the luxury of knowing that the building is sold out, even if they try to limit tickets. Now having said that, any Blackhawk fan that really wants to get into the game can figure out a way to do it. It’s not all that difficult.”
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6:45 p.m. EDT
Rocky Wirtz, the Chicago Blackhawks’ principal owner and chairman, just arrived at Amalie Arena for the Stanley Cup Final opener along with team President John McDonough. They stopped to watch a group of Blackhawks playing soccer in the arena hallway. Wirtz is widely credited for kicking off the Blackhawks’ current renaissance by abandoning many of his father’s longtime policies after Bill Wirtz’s death in 2007.
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6:45 p.m. EDT
It’s almost time for the opening faceoff in Tampa.
The streets and plazas around Amalie Arena began filling with hockey fans several hours before the Lightning took on the Chicago Blackhawks in the Stanley Cup Final opener Wednesday.
Downtown Tampa is festooned with banners, flags, sidewalk stickers and fans supporting the Eastern Conference champions, who are in their first final since 2004. Dozens of people gathered around a merchandise trailer before it even opened outside the arena on a humid afternoon, hoping to purchase souvenir pucks before they were out of stock.
Yet dozens of fans in red Blackhawks jerseys already were roaming the Tampa streets on the morning of Game 1, and their numbers will only multiply despite the Lightning’s ticketing policies designed to limit the number of road fans in the arena. Chicago has one of the NHL’s best traveling fan bases, and thousands of transplants live within easy driving distance of every Sun Belt NHL city.
”You can’t stop Blackhawks fans, so why even try?” asked Jennifer Smythe, a Schaumburg, Illinois, native now living in Tampa.
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