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You just cannot ask for a better Stanley Cup Finals than what we are witnessing with the Chicago Blackhawks and Tampa Bay Lightning. Both of these teams had been playing great hockey, and game five in Tampa Bay was no different.
The 1st period was all Chicago, in all aspects of the game. Their defense was solid, their forwards were playing good, solid hockey, and although Crawford looked shaky at times, he did not make as many mental mistake as Ben Bishop did. Chicago peppered Bishop from the start of the 1st period to the end. Then, just as you thought Crawford was going to give a away an open net for Nikita Kucherov, somehow he got a piece of the puck and Kucherov ended up going face first into the right post. Kucherov immediately dropped his equipment and left the ice, and would not return.
Shortly after Kucherov left for the trainer’s room, a loose puck squirted near the top of the circles in the Tampa Bay zone. That puck caused confusion between Victor Hedman and Bishop, as both went to make a play for the puck. The two heavyweights collided with one another, which gave Patrick Sharp a free walk to an open net. Sharp buried the open net goal at 6:11 of the 1st period solidifying the period for Chicago. The Blackhawks went into the locker room at the first intermission with all of the momentum.
The 2nd period was a much different story. After Tampa Bay killed an early penalty they took complete control of the period from start to finish, as did Chicago in the first. All of the offense of the period was generated by Tampa Bay, which gave their defense and a staggered Bishop a ton of confidence throughout. Then at the 10:53 mark of the 2nd period, Jason Garrison made a beautiful cross ice pass from the left point area, which found its way through traffic to a waiting and willing Valtteri Filppula. Filppula buried the pass on the backdoor past a sprawling Crawford, who had no chance at making the save. It was almost like Tampa Bay never had Kucherov to begin with, because they played such a great second period no one would have noticed he had left. The second period ended with the score tied, but Chicago trailing Tampa Bay in all other aspects of the game.
Neither team could seem to keep the momentum on their side as the 3rd period again shifted teams, and played into Chicago’s hand. Tampa came out for the 3rd period a little bit slower than Chicago, and it cost them. At two minutes into the 3rd period, Antoine Vermette was able to get one past Ben Bishop who since the 1st period had seriously picked up his game. The momentum stayed in Chicago’s favor until about halfway through the period when Tampa’s urgency began to kick in. Steven Stamkos was the leader of that momentum as he, Tyler Johnson, and Ondrej Palat significantly stepped up their games with the absence of Kucherov, who was still out from a 1st period injury. Tampa Bay continued to apply pressure, while Chicago had a defensive mind set, with their sole focus being not allowing Tampa Bay to tie the game. John Cooper called Bishop to the bench with one minute left in the period. Bishop would have gone a lot sooner had Tampa Bay been able to get the puck into the Chicago zone. Then with eight seconds left, Tampa Bay took a penalty for too many men on the ice essentially handing the game to Chicago. For the second time this series Vermette was awarded with the game-winning goal, as Chicago held on to take a 3-2 series lead. Things should be very interesting for game six back in Chicago.
