Borne on the FM Waves of the Heart: Lightning 3, Blackhawks 1

Insert reference to moral victories here.

A game between one team with very real Stanley Cup aspirations and a team with very different aspirations proved to be much closer than expected before the inevitable, ultimate conclusion arrived as the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Chicago Blackhawks 3-1 on Saturday night in Florida.

The first period was a sleepier affair, with Tampa mustering just seven shots on goal and Chicago tallying only four.

The action picked up the second period and included this Brayden Point goal that opened the scoring:

The Lightning took that 1-0 lead into the third period before Taylor Raddysh tied the game at the 5:23 mark of the final frame, one-timing a nifty pass from Cole Guttman:

It started to look like the Blackhawks were headed to overtime once again before Point scored with 60 seconds left in the game to put Tampa ahead 2-1:

That goal proved to be the game-winner and old friend Brandon Hagel added an empty-netter with two ticks left on the clock for the final margin of victory.

Notes

• As mentioned above, chalk this up as another game when Cole Guttman did something noticeable. Heckuva pass to Raddysh for that goal. Sure beats nothing, eh?
• Speaking of Raddysh, a bit of a heater lately for the young-ish forward with three goals and an assist in the last three games. Given that he’s now 25 years old, it feels unlikely that Raddysh is going to suddenly find a scoring touch that’ll turn him into a top-line fixture down the road. But it also seems like there’s a legitimate NHL talent there, perhaps one that would slot down to the third line on a contending team and fare very well in that role. Certainly wouldn’t hurt that argument if Raddysh continued on this little hot streak over the final month of the season.
• Lukas Reichel’s speed and skill are obvious in just about every game he plays and the curious thing regarding his future will be where he ultimately lands in the lineup. Don’t interpret this as a knock on Reichel, but it seems like his ideal spot down the road is as the secondary option to a star player somewhere in the top six. Reichel certainly has talent worthy of one of the top two forward lines down the road — even on a good team — but it seems like he might be more of the passenger on that line than the driver of said line. More like DeBrincat than Kane, if that makes sense.
• It’s probably a touch unfair that Petr Mrazek didn’t get the win, given how well he played against a damn good hockey team, but it also seemed like he had some fortunate moments when he abandoned his post in some manner and the puck ended up not finding the net.
• In fact, that’d probably be a fun drinking game: take one every time Mrazek either loses his net or ends up facing the boards behind his net. If he does both at the same time, finish the drink. If it results in a goal, that’s a shot. (Second City Hockey reminds everyone to drink responsibly. Please and thank you.)
• This game can also be added to the list of games where a clearly outgunned Blackhawks roster showed up for a full 60 minutes against a vastly superior opponent. The longer this goes, the stronger the case for Luke Richardson as the coach for this team in the long-term. Far more difficult tasks await than simply having a team show up ready to play, but that wasn’t something we could always say about this team in the last few seasons.
• Set your clocks forward. Sunset on Sunday will be around 6:50 in the Chicagoland area. The weather might even get warmer soon. All of these things are mentioned to say that this dreadful hockey season is winding down and we’re almost free of this misery — just 16 games left! The draft lottery is probably about a month away (official date still TBD) and then we’ll see if this downward spiral is about ready for a swift change in direction to the north.

Game Charts

Three Stars

1. Brayden Point (TBL) — 2 goals
2. Brian Elliott (TBL) — 22 saves on 23 shots
3. Petr Mrazek (CHI) — 34 saves on 36 shots

What’s Next

The Blackhawks head back home for a few days off before hosting the league-best Boston Bruins on Tuesday night at the United Center for a 7:30 p.m. puck drop.