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The Lightning’s power play saved them from a damaging regulation loss tonight. They netted three power-play goals, including the tying tally with less than a minute remaining in the third period and the winner in overtime.

They found themselves trailing in the game because they had a rough night in the defensive zone. During the latter part of the first period and for much of the second, they struggled to end Chicago’s plays. As a result, the ‘Hawks enjoyed many long shifts in the offensive zone. And while the Chicago shot total wasn’t very high, the Blackhawks did generate a handful of Grade-A chances. Three of those went in. The Chicago goals were consecutive and erased an early 1-0 Lightning lead. If not for Jonas Johansson, however, the Lightning might have been down by more than two goals.

As the second period neared its conclusion, the Lightning began reversing momentum. It started with an excellent penalty kill, one that started with 5:48 left in the frame. Anthony Cirelli had two terrific shorthanded scoring chances: he put the first shot off the bottom of the crossbar, and Arvid Soderblom stopped him on the second. But the Lightning built off that strong kill and did get one of the goals back before the period ended. Just barely. With less than 10 seconds left, Nick Paul deflected Victor Hedman’s backhand shot past Soderblom.

The Lightning dominated possession in the third period. They worked hard to win puck battles and keep plays alive in the offensive zone. They consistently directed pucks to the Chicago net. Third-period shots were 17-1. Attempts finished 27-4. Not only did the Lightning rack up plenty of shots, they created numerous scoring chances. Soderblom was outstanding in denying the first 16 of those shots. His best stop was a dazzling right skate save on Max Crozier’s rebound shot — Soderblom threw his skate up in the air and deflected Crozier’s shot away from an open net.

With under three minutes left, the Lightning put together another hard-working shift. Paul, Brandon Hagel, and Conor Geekie maintained possession in the offensive zone, and Hagel drew a tripping minor on Alec Martinez at 17:34.

The Lightning had scored a power-play goal on their only other opportunity in the game, so Jon Cooper elected to keep Johansson on the ice for the start of the man advantage. Before a minute had expired on the power play, though, he pulled Johansson for the extra attacker. Soderblom made a point-blank save on Mitchell Chaffee, who had scored the earlier PPG from a similar location in the slot. The Lightning sent out Luke Glendening for the ensuing faceoff. A Chicago faceoff win might have led to an empty-net goal or a clear that would have killed off precious seconds. Instead, Glendening won the draw. Moments later, Soderblom stopped a point-blank chance for Brayden Point. That led to another key faceoff. Again, Glendening won it. Kucherov centered the puck from the bottom of the right circle to the front of the net, where Jake Guentzel redirected it in at 19:19.

With only seconds left in regulation, Paul intercepted a puck from Teuvo Teravainen and had open ice in front of him. Teravainen tripped him, and the Lightning received another power-play chance. During the four-on-three in OT, Hedman fed Kucherov for a right-circle one-timer that got through Soderblom’s pads at :58.

The Blackhawks entered the game with the fifth-best penalty-kill percentage in the league. But the Lightning netted PPGs on a five-on-four, six-on-four, and four-on-three. As a result, they banked two crucial points in the standings.

Lightning Radio Three Stars of the Game:

  1. Nikita Kucherov — Lightning. GWG and two assists.
  2. Nick Paul — Lightning. Goal.
  3. Arvid Soderblom — Blackhawks. 36 saves.