Rozner: Blackhawks sloppy in Game 2 defeat
It was bound to happen.
The Blackhawks have every right to be tired after a conference final series that took just about everything out of them, and they looked like it Saturday night in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final.
The Hawks were a step short on the forecheck and a step slow in their own end, and while much of the conversation about their 4-3 loss at the Amalie Arena will focus on Patrick Sharp, there was more to this defeat than a couple of bad penalties.
It was about puck battles, pace and energy and it was Tampa winning on all accounts, playing faster and more physical as they evened the series at 1-1.
The Lightning are now 3-0 this spring after losing Game 1 and the Hawks knew they were going to get Tampa's best effort in Game 2. The Hawks played about 40 minutes in Game 2, but they did not match the Lightning energy from beginning to end.
"It's something we saw coming," said Hawks captain Jonathan Toews. "We're more satisfied with our effort, but not the result."
Down 3-2 heading into the third and getting nothing from the line of Toews, Patrick Kane and Brandon Saad through five periods, Joel Quenneville replaced Kane with Marian Hossa to balance out the lines and it paid off immediately.
Toews, without a point in the Final, took a pass through the neutral zone and walked along the Tampa blueline until he heard Brent Seabrook behind him. Seabrook fired from between the circles and with Hossa getting a stick on Ben Bishop's pads, Seabrook scored to tie the game 3:38 into the third.
A minute later, Sharp took back-to-back penalties and on the second power play Jason Garrison shot it off Andrew Desjardins' stick to give the Bolts a 4-3 lead at 8:49.
The Hawks pressured the last 10 minutes, but they couldn't beat backup goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, who was in the game for Bishop because of an undisclosed ailment.
"Just battling to get the puck out. Didn't mean to do it," Sharp said of the second penalty. "I take full responsibility. Feel bad. Our guys did a great job killing both penalties and they get a deflection goal."
Just like Game 1, Tampa came out flying and dominated the first period, winning puck races in the Hawks' end, and that led to the first goal of the game at 12:56 after Ryan Callahan beat Kyle Cumiskey to a dump-in.
Cedric Paquette scored to make it 1-0 and it was a big boost for the home team because that's a checking line facing the Hawks' big guns and they got a plus-one from the sequence.
"I thought our effort was better than Game 1," Toews said. "Tough to win two straight on the road. We'll take the good things from this one, put this behind us and be excited about going home."
The Hawks' fourth line tied the game early in the second period and Teuvo Teravainen scored on the power play to give the Hawks the lead, his third goal in the last 5 games.
But the Bolts tied it at 2-2 just 92 seconds later after the Hawks lost another puck battle and Nikita Kucherov tipped a Garrison shot past Corey Crawford for a 2-2 tie.
Crawford had been terrific for 4 periods through two games until Tyler Johnson walked out from the corner and scored short side along the post for a 3-2 Tampa lead at 13:58 of the second.
"Not good enough," Crawford said. "It's not a goal I want to give up. He kind of fanned on the backhand and I don't know if it bounced or what."
It was a sloppy game for the Hawks. They didn't get much from their top two lines again and as a team they were slow to the puck. Crawford wasn't good and they took bad penalties.
The good news is the Hawks haven't played well yet in this series and they're tied at 1-1 and had a chance to win both games.
"We're tied in the third, in a good spot and it didn't go our way," Quenneville said. "We'll be all right. We'll be excited about going home."
So the Hawks head home and if they bring their best game they should gain control of the series.
But Tampa has been ready to play from the start. Now would be the time for the Hawks to join the series.
brozner@dailyherald.com
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