Recap: Donato does it again, Blackhawks top Lightning 3-2

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First period

The Blackhawks had a few chances, but the Lightning got more shots on net in the first. Ilya Mikheyev led a 2-on-1 with Frank Nazar into the offensive zone, but was stopped by Andrei Vasilevskiy. The Blackhawks got the first power play of the game in this one. About halfway through the period, Tyler Bertuzzi got the puck beside the net and waited patiently. Nazar had himself positioned perfectly and took a feed right in front of the net to give the Blackhawks the 1-0 lead.

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Three more penalties would be taken in the period, but nothing came of them. The Blackhawks would carry that lead into the intermission.

Second period

Seven minutes into the second, the Lightning got back into the game. They had the Blackhawks in chaos in front of their own net, with Knight having to dive to make a couple of saves. The puck found its way back to the point, with Ryan McDonagh putting the puck on net. It was tipped past Knight by Jake Guentzel, knotting things up at 1-1.

Then, right around the 10-minute mark of the second, with a delayed penalty upcoming, Ryan Donato took the puck. He went end to end and put a nasty wrister on net that beat Vasilevskiy, putting the Blackhawks back up 2-1.

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In a brutal end to the period, the Blackhawks let up the tying goal with less than a minute to go. Nikita Kucherov got the puck on the left end boards. He found McDonagh in the right circle, and he buried the wrister past Knight. The period would end with everything knotted up at 2-2.

Third period

After both teams played a clean second period, the third turned into another penalty-riddled mess. On a 4-on-4 with six minutes to go, Ryan Greene got a takeaway right in front of the Lightning net. He couldn’t sneak it past Vasilevskiy though, and the game stayed tied at 2-2. Then, with just over a minute to go, Teuvo Teravainen took the puck from Kucherov in the defensive zone. He made a beautiful pass through the neutral zone to Nazar. His shot was saved, but the rebound came right out to Donato, who didn’t miss with his second of the game.

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That would do it for this game, giving the Blackhawks the 3-2 victory over the Lightning.

Analysis

This game goes to show that looking at the statistics themselves doesn’t tell the whole picture. The Blackhawks were outshot, and didn’t win as many faceoffs as they should have. It was truly a penalty-riddled mess in the first and third, with both teams playing sloppy hockey and taking nine combined penalties, with none of those penalty minutes coming from fights. Donato and Nazar both continued their strong starts to the season. Those two and Mikheyev are a huge part of the Blackhawks’ early season success along with Knight keeping them in games in the early part of the season with his strong play.

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The Blackhawks’ next game is on Sunday night versus the Los Angeles Kings at the United Center. That game will be at 6 p.m. Central on CHSN.