Last Updated on June 6, 2015 8:45 pm by admin
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – The latest from Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Chicago Blackhawks and Tampa Bay Lightning, at Amalie Arena on Saturday night. All times listed are Eastern:
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8:35 p.m.
Chicago scored two quick goals to flip a deficit into a one-goal lead, but Tampa Bay responded quickly with a goal of its own to tie the second game of the Stanley Cup Final at 2-2 midway through the second period.
The Blackhawks tied it 1-1 on Andrew Shaw’s tap-in on a shot that never reached Ben Bishop. Andrew Desjardins shot into heavy traffic in front of the net. The puck slid into the crease where Shaw reached out and put it in the net.
They went ahead just 2 minutes, 14 seconds later on Tuevo Teravainen’s power-play goal, his second goal of the series.
Tampa Bay quickly tied the game on a goal from Nikita Kucherov.
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8:29 p.m.
The second period is underway in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final.
The Blackhawks finished killing Tampa Bay’s first power-play opportunity and there’s been a scoring change on Paquette’s goal.
Initially announced as unassisted at 12:56 of the first period, Tampa Bay’s Ryan Callahan and Victor Hedman have been credited with assists.
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8:10 p.m.
The Blackhawks didn’t dress young defenseman Trevor Van Riemsdyk for Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final, but they’re still essentially relying on four blueliners.
Kyle Cumiskey played only three shifts in the first period, but wasn’t able to help when Paquette scored for Tampa Bay.
David Rundblad played six shifts, but was on the ice for only 1:49. Brent Seabrook played a whopping 10:16, and Duncan Keith logged 9:20.
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8:07 p.m.
The Lightning vowed to come out more aggressive in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final on Saturday night. So far, they have.
They outshot the Blackhawks 12-11 in the first 20 minutes, and will begin the second period with a 1-0 lead and 28 seconds remaining on the first power-play opportunity of the game.
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7:56 p.m.
Cedric Paquette scored an unassisted goal on a wrist shot from the right circle to give the Lightning a 1-0 lead with just over seven minutes remaining in the first period of Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final. It’s his second goal of the playoffs.
Tampa Bay is 9-1 when scoring first in the playoffs. The lone loss was in Game 1 of the Cup final. Chicago is 4-4 when opponents score first.
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7:50 p.m.
Game 2 is off to a rousing start with both teams playing aggressively and working for scoring chances.
Tampa’s ”Triplets” line – Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat and Nikita Kucherov – got two shots in the opening 6 minutes, matching its combined total from all of Game 1. Johnson also rang a shot off Corey Crawford’s post.
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7:45 p.m.
Goalies Corey Crawford and Ben Bishop are both busy early.
Tampa Bay got off five shots and Chicago four in the first five minutes of the game.
The sellout crowd prematurely began to celebrate when a shot by Cedric Paquette hit the side of the net and the foghorn blew briefly as play continued.
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7:30 p.m.
Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final is underway after a rousing pregame ceremony featuring video highlights of the Lightning’s playoff run to the championship round and Game 1 on Wednesday night.
It’s also official: forward Bryan Bickell is out for the Blackhawks, and rookie forward Jonathan Drouin in for the Lightning. Drouin replaces defenseman Nikita Nesterov in move aimed at generating more offense from Tampa Bay’s secondary lines.
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6:40 p.m.
The Chicago Blackhawks say they’re approaching Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final as a must win situation, even though they rallied for a 2-1 win in the series opener.
The Lightning scored in the first five minutes and used a defense-first game plan to protect the lead perfectly until Chicago scored twice during a two-minute span in the third period to escape with the victory.
After a two day break, Lightning coach Jon Cooper could increase playing time for star Steven Stamkos, who wasn’t on the ice for the final 51 seconds of Game 1.
Cooper gave a testy response Saturday morning when asked whether he plans to play Stamkos more. The player who’s led the league twice in goals scored played just over 17 minutes in Game 1, more than 2 minutes less than his average during the regular season.
”I don’t know what that means. Should I just play him the whole game, like all 60?” Cooper said.
When the reporter suggested maybe the three-time All-Star maybe should play somewhere between 18 and 22 minutes, Cooper fired back.
”Eighteen, OK. So if he plays 20 minutes, I should give him two more shifts,” the coach said, ”I’ll think about that tonight.”
Stamkos scored 43 goals during the regular season, ranking second in the NHL.
Stamkos led Lightning forwards in playing time during the regular season. Five other forwards – Ondrej Palat, Tyler Johnson, Alex Killorn, Valtteri Filppula and Nikita Kucherov all were on the ice more during Game 1.
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6:15 p.m.
Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final is the 200th NHL playoff game for Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville, who guided Chicago to Stanley Cup titles in 2010 and 2013.
He’s the third coach to reach that plateau, joining Scotty Bowman (353) and Al Arbour (209). His 112 postseason wins also rank third all-time behind Bowman (223), currently a senior advisor for the Blackhawks, and Arbour (123).
Bowman, who lives in Sarasota, Florida, is at Amalie Arena for the final. He has won 13 Stanley Cups, including a record nine as a coach. The other four have come in management roles, two with the Blackhawks.
Asked which is more difficult, coaching in the Final or watching from his seat in the press box, the Hall of Famer said: ”It’s tougher watching because when you’re coaching you can do something about it. When you’re in the press box you can’t do anything.”
There’s a good side to not being behind the bench, too.
”You can’t get criticized if you do something stupid,” he said, laughing.
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5:40 p.m.
Lightning rookie left wing Jonathan Drouin said he’ll skate with the team in warmups on Saturday before Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final.
The third overall pick in the 2013 draft has been a healthy scratch for 10 consecutive games, dating to Game 4 of Tampa Bay’s second-round series against Montreal. He’s appeared in just three postseason games, and concedes it’s not easy to retain confidence when you’re not playing.
He vowed earlier Saturday to be ready if Cooper inserts him into the lineup.
”There’s not much I can do about it,’ Drouin said. ”If it was my decision, I’d be on the ice every night.”
The rookie said he understands why he’s not playing as much as he’d like, however that doesn’t make it any easier to accept.
”Look at our team, our depth. They’re the reason we’re in the Stanley Cup. We have a lot of good forwards and a lot of good D. It’s a hard lineup to crack,” Drouin said. ”You look, Mark Barberio is a really good defenseman and has trouble getting in any night. Same for me. It is hard, though.”
Cooper would not say whether Drouin would play. He didn’t sound overly concerned, though, about how well the young forward might be capable of playing after a long layoff.
”Your job as a player, you have to be a pro. You have to make yourself ready,” Cooper said.
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5:20 p.m.
The Blackhawks say they need to play a lot better than they did in the series opener if they expect to achieve their ultimate goal – a third championship in six years.
Captain Jonathan Toews said the team is approaching Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final on Saturday as if they’re playing a Game 7, going as far as to say Chicago needs to redeem itself for a less than stellar performance in the opener.
”At the end of the day we got the result we wanted, but that doesn’t mean we can be satisfied with the performance that we had,” Toews said. ”We know it’s going to take much more than that to continue to win and have success in this series, and that’s what we’re focused on.”
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5:10 p.m.
Former Tampa Bay goaltender Manon Rheaume, the only woman to appear in a NHL game, is here as a guest of the Lightning and promoting a movie about her career entitled ”Between The Pipes.”
She signed with the Lightning in 1992 and appeared in one period of an exhibition game against the St. Louis Blues at the Florida State Fairgrounds, where the then-expansion franchise played in its first season in an exposition hall converted into a 10,000-seat hockey arena.
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AP Sports Writer Greg Beacham contributed to this report.