Guentzel also had an assist, and Nick Paul scored for the Lightning (26-18-3), who had lost two in a row. Victor Hedman had two assists, and Jonas Johansson made 11 saves.
“You just never know in this league,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. “It’s so hard to win. It took a little bit for us to get our feet under us, but the boys were driven, especially with not coming away with any points a couple days, going back to back (at the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens earlier in the week). We had to exert a lot of energy just to get out of this one. But they did it. That’s all you ask of your team. You can’t quit. You’ve just got to keep going.
“Pretty proud of the effort, especially in that third period. Even when we were missing, we were getting so close, so close, so close. You just needed one. It could come in the first minute or the last minute. Tonight, it came in the last minute. That’s what we need.”
Frank Nazar and Louis Crevier each had a goal and an assist, and Colton Dach scored his first NHL goal for the Blackhawks (15-28-5), who have lost six of seven (1-3-3). Arvid Soderblom made 36 saves.
“You have to understand how the margins are so slim when you’re up by one and how hard you are pushing when you’re down by one,” Chicago captain Nick Foligno said. “Almost flip the script in your mind of what that takes to negate, right? I think that’s where we take a breath.
“We almost sit back a little bit too much or we don’t get quite that extra effort to get it out or understand, if you do have a chance on your stick to put it in the net and get that extra lead. It’s winning hockey, it’s the habits that allow you to do that, and tonight it’s not getting scored on in the last minute because you don’t want to put a puck in.”