Tampa Bay got off to a fast start with two goals in the opening 4:15 of the first period.
The opening goal came from an unlikely source off the rush just 28 seconds in. After Chicago won an offensive zone draw, Erik Cernak intercepted a pass and flew down the right wing before slipping a shot through Kevin Lankinen's five-hole.
Yanni Gourde followed with a tip-in goal less than four minutes later to double the Lightning's lead. Mikhail Sergachev waited for space to open and threw the puck to the front of the net where Gourde was stationed for an easy redirection at the far post.
Chicago got on the board 12 minutes into the period when Brandon Hagel's centering feed from below the goal line deflected off Blake Coleman's stick and Barclay Goodrow's skate.
Alex Barré-Boulet answered right back to put the Bolts back up by two. Lankinen made a save on Barre-Boulet's spinning backhand attempt and then stopped Ondrej Palat's follow up chance. With the puck still loose after Palat's shot, Barre-Boulet crashed the net and put home the rebound for his second goal of the season.
Wyatt Kalynuk rounded out a wild first period with a goal to get the Blackhawks within one after 20 minutes. On the rush, Kalynuk fired a rising shot that Vasilevskiy got a piece of with his blocker, only to have the puck bounce down off his leg and trickle over the line.
The Lightning took control with three unanswered goals to open the second period.
Brayden Point was first, tucking home a wraparound attempt at the 6:40 mark to put the Lightning up by two. Less than three minutes later, Coleman scored his 11th goal of the season off a beautiful drop feed from Tyler Johnson. Alex Killorn then made it a four-goal cushion with a deflection off Mikhail Sergachev's shot from the point.
Duncan Keith scored in the final minute of the second and Dominik Kubalik converted in the closing seconds of a two-man advantage in the third to get the Blackhawks back within two but Killorn added a late empty netter to ice the win for Tampa Bay.
An injury forced Jon Cooper to make one tweak to his lineup, with Cal Foote drawing in for the first time since April 10 as David Savard was unable to play due to a lower-body injury.
The Bolts will now make a quick trip back to Tampa Bay for a matchup against the Stars on Thursday before departing for a back-to-back in Detroit this weekend.
Scoring Summary
1st Period
TBL | 0:28 Erik Cernak (4) - Unassisted
TBL | 4:15 Yanni Gourde (17) - Mikhail Sergachev, Blake Coleman
CHI | 11:59 Brandon Hagel (8) - Kirby Dach
TBL | 15:04 Alex Barre-Boulet (2) - Ondrej Palat, Brayden Point
CHI | 17:59 Wyatt Kalynuk (4) - Unassisted
2nd Period
TBL | 6:40 Brayden Point (21) - Ondrej Palat
TBL | 9:21 Blake Coleman (11) - Tyler Johnson, Barclay Goodrow
TBL | 13:39 Alex Killorn (13) - Mikhail Sergachev, Brayden Point - PPG
CHI | 19:28 Duncan Keith (4) - Patrick Kane, Vinnie Hinostroza
3rd Period
CHI | 13:51 Dominik Kubalik (16) - Patrick Kane, Alex DeBrincat - PPG
