Tampa Bay's Victor Hedman had two assists while playing stout defence on Chicago's top forwards as the Lightning beat the Blackhawks 3-2 in game three of the Stanley Cup Final on Monday.
Ryan Callahan, Ondrej Palat and Cedric Paquette scored as Tampa Bay used its second straight win to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. Goaltender Ben Bishop made 36 saves in a gutsy performance after he was under an injury cloud coming into the game. Game 4 is Wednesday.
Brad Richards and Brandon Saad scored for Chicago, and Corey Crawford finished with 29 stops.
The third consecutive one-goal game in the final was tied 1-1 after two periods, and then tied again after the teams exchanged goals in a 13-second burst in the third. But Hedman helped the Lightning take the lead for good when he skated into the corner and made a perfect pass to Paquette in the middle for his third goal of the playoffs with 3:11 remaining, silencing the United Center crowd.
Bishop and company held up in the closing minutes as the Lightning improved to 8-3 on the road in this season's playoffs.
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