Last night, the Stanley Cup Final between the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Chicago Blackhawks started and in no way did that game disappoint. The Lightning started the game like they were shot out of a cannon. They were fast, they were hitting hard, and they were killing the Blackhawks. They were able to get the lead early on a redonkulous tip by Alex Killorn (04:31) to take a 1-0 lead.The rest of the 1st period was status quo for the Lightning as they were able to keep control.

http://video.nhl.com/videocenter/embed?playlist=2014030411-X-h

The second period was a different story, though. The game evened out in chances and the Blackhawks settled in defensively. The chances the Bolts had in the first were no longer there. The Hawks got some jump and were able to get some chances of their own. The scoreboard did not change in the second, but the overall game did.

The third period was complete domination by Chicago. They controlled tempo and chances. The game really took a turn in the Hawks favor when Corey Crawford stopped Ryan Callahan on a breakaway. It was a clutch save on Crawford’s part and gave his team a jump that they used effectively. At 13:28 of the third, Teuvo Teravainen took a shot from just above the left wing circle that found its way through about five bodies and into the back of the net. Ben Bishop never saw the puck.

A little over two minutes later, the same line of Teravainen-Anton Vermette-Patrick Sharp forced a turnover in the offensive zone which Teravainen was able to tap over to Vermette who roofed it to give the Hawks a 2-1 lead which they never relinquished.

TL;DR version of this: The Bolts dominated the first 30 minutes, and the Hawks dominated the latter half of the game and won on two really good plays.