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Lightning vs Blackhawks

Secondary scoring lifts Lightning to Game 2 win

Sunday, 06.07.2015 / 12:26 AM

By Corey Long - NHL.com Correspondent / 2015 Stanley Cup Final blog

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2015 Stanley Cup Final blog
Secondary scoring lifts Lightning to Game 2 win

TAMPA -- Most of the Tampa Bay Lightning's playoff scoring has been handled by "The Triplets" line of Ondrej Palat, Tyler Johnson and Nikita Kucherov, or the line of Steven Stamkos, Valtteri Filppula and Alex Killorn.

But in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Chicago Blackhawks at Amalie Arena on Saturday, the Lightning generated more offensive chances with their third and fourth lines and defenseman Jason Garrison.

The result was a 4-3 win that tied the best-of-7 series 1-1. Game 3 will be played at United Center on Monday (8 p.m., ET; NBCSN, CBC, TVA Sports).

Forward Cedric Paquette, who has been lauded for his defensive work against Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews, scored 12:56 into the game to give the Lightning a 1-0 lead.

"[Defenseman Victor] Hedman made a great play at the blue line to give it to me," Paquette said. "I just tried to get it on the net and the puck went through a couple of bodies."

Paquette's other playoff goal was an empty-netter in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference First Round against the Detroit Red Wings. He said the secondary lines have been working to get more involved.

"I think we felt that our third line and fourth line needed to get going offensively," Paquette said. "It was fun to chip in."

Paquette, who scored 12 goals in 64 regular-season games, admitted he might have been putting too much pressure on himself.

"I was really frustrated," Paquette said. "My playoffs hasn't gone the way I wanted. I scored some goals during the season, I wanted to help the team offensively. [Coach Jon] Cooper told us we needed to chip in if we want to win the Cup, and I think we did [Saturday]."

Forward Ryan Callahan said the line, including J.T. Brown, had to get back to playing the way it did during most of the season.

"I thought we were a lot harder on the forecheck," Callahan said. "We held on to pucks more and I think that's our strength is below the goal line. We have some guys that like to grind it out a little bit and get to the front of the net."

Brown and Jonathan Drouin, playing for the first time since May 7, each had a scoring chance in the first period in front of the net that came up wide. Callahan and Hedman got the assists on Paquette's goal.

"I was trying to get in there hard, get the puck free and get in front of the net and try to cause a little bit a chaos," Callahan said. "Pucks are bouncing around in there and [Paquette] ends up showing good patience and makes a great shot. That's what we have to do to be successful, go hard to the net and get some dirty looks."

Garrison scored the game-winning goal at 8:49 of the third period. His shot deflected off the stick of Blackhawks center Andrew Desjardins and went past goalie Corey Crawford.

"As defensemen, we've been told to get up the ice, try to be a second wave," said Garrison, who had an assist on Kucherov's second-period goal. "There was an emphasis on that tonight going into the game, making sure we were moving our feet, supporting the play as much as possible. We were able to contribute tonight, which was big for us. I think last game we only were able to have four shots as a defensive corps. We wanted to make sure we contributed more [offensively] tonight."

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