The Lightning defeat the Blackhawks

The Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Chicago Blackhawks in ESPN’s Friday Night Hockey in a penalty shootout . The Lightning dominated majority of this hockey, but unfortunately it went the distance of 5 periods. The Lightning would defeat the Blackhawks 2-1 in Chicago.

The Lightning seemed to have dominated the 1st period of this game, but the Blackhawks were able to open the scoring late in the period. The Lightning led in everything from a statistical standpoint. Tampa Bay led in shots on goal 8-4 against the Blackhawks. The Blackhawks were able to open the scoring on a goal from Ryan Greene. Ryan Greene would score his 7th goal of the season assisted by Nick Lardis and Oliver Moore. The Lightning trailed 1-0 going into the 2nd period.

1st period stats via realapp

The Lightning were able to get past Arvid Soderblom in the 2nd period of this game. Nikita Kucherov would net his 25th goal of the season with assists from Brandon Hagel and Anthony Cirelli. It was a perfect pass from Brandon Hagel in front of the net. Kucherov now extends his point streak to 4 games . Brandon Hagel now has 16 points over his last 11 games for the Lightning. The Lightning and Blackhawks entered the 3rd period 1-1.

The Lightning came out victorious in a shootout on the stick of Dominic James who was able secure the extra point for the Bolts. Arvid Soderblom is what made this a very competitive game and allowed the Blackhawks to stick around all game. Soderblom put on an incredible performance for the Blackhawks tonight.

The three stars of tonight’s game would have to be the following players :

• Arvid Soderblom (Chicago Blackhawks)

• Nikita Kucherov (Tampa Bay Lightning)

• Brandon Hagel (Tampa Bay Lightning)

The Lightning will now travel to Columbus to take on the Blue Jackets tomorrow night at 7:00 ET.