ANALYSIS: Blackhawks Can't Withstand Quick Charge from Lightning Late

For the first 30 or so minutes of Sunday's game, the Blackhawks looked like they might be able to pull out an upset win over one of the best in the East.
They controlled much of the offense in the first period against the Tampa Bay Lightning, robbed on multiple occasions by the stellar netminding of Andrei Vasilevskiy to only be up 1-0 after 20 minutes in what could've been a two- or three-goal lead.
Even when Tampa got on the board off a broken play in the slot in the second, Patrick Kane answered just five minutes later to put Chicago back in front.

POSTGAME LINKS
GAMECENTER: CHI vs. TBL
RECAP: Blackhawks Fall to Lightning, 6-3
HIGHLIGHTS: Blackhawks vs. Lightning
GALLERY: Blackhawks vs. Lightning
INSIDER: Kendall Coyne Schofield on Olympics Experience
They had a prime opportunity to double the lead on a second period power play with three shot attempts in the opening 20 seconds alone of the advantage, but an Alex DeBrincat minor defending a rush the other way negated the power play and sparked Tampa's momentum the other way. Seconds after the ensuing Lightning power play ended, Victor Hedman tied the game again. And 90 seconds later, Cal Foote put Tampa Bay in front for the rest of the way.
"Turning point of the game," Kane said. "Vasilevskiy made some unreal saves and they come back at the end of their power play and score... They get one before the end of the second and now all of the sudden you think you're going into the third with a lead and you're chasing the game. It got away from us pretty quickly there."

Quickly is an understatement. Tampa Bay struck three times in the span of 32 seconds in the opening two-plus minutes of the third to take a 6-2 lead, and that was effectively that. All told, the five Tampa goals came in just 7:06 of game play.
"This game could've easily went the other way," interim head coach Derek King said. "Obviously it didn't, but we'll look at the video and we'll probably realize we didn't play as bad as we thought we did, we just gave them a little too much at certain times and they took advantage of it... You give them those opportunities and they're going to finish. And that's what they did."
"I think it started snowballing," Riley Stillman added. "We've got to do a better job of parking things once they're over. If one goes in, two go in, you've got to find a way to regroup and come back and try to do your best to get the next one for the team. I think that's something we've got to do better at going forward."

THREE-HEADED MONSTER

Kane, Alex DeBrincat and Dylan Strome all pushed their personal point streaks to three straight games with a goal and an assist each on Sunday.
The trio continue to be the heartbeat of the Blackhawks offense in recent weeks, so much so that down a few goals late, King put the three on a line together to finish the game. It worked to net the team's third goal of the night as DeBrincat and Kane each made an attempt to tip home a Strome shot from distance, a puck DeBrincat ultimately connected on.
"I thought that line played well," King said. "Kaner was hot. Stromer continues to produce. I thought Cat was a lot better once I put him on that line."
Kane has 11 points (6G, 5A) in his last six games, including his fourth multi-point effort in that stretch in the loss. Strome has 18 points in his last 22 outings.
DeBrincat has goals in three straight now, pushing his season total to 32 and is on pace to shatter his career-best 41 goal mark from his rookie year. If his current form holds, he could even be in the conversation to hit 50 tallies before the season's end.
"He's just such a natural goal scorer," Stillman marveled of DeBrincat. "It seems like his wheelhouse is three feet wide. He hits the net with everything. He can hit it whether you pass it two miles an hour or a hundred miles an hour, he can still hit it. I think he's a special goal scorer in this league."