Lightning strike late to lead Stanley Cup Finals

The Tampa Bay Lightning shrugged off a hostile Chicago crowd to score twice in the third period and beat the Blackhawks 3-2, giving them a 2-1 lead in the Stanley Cup Final.

After a split of the opening two games in the best-of-seven series, Chicago looked like they would seize the advantage when Brandon Saad put them 2-1 up early in the third.

However, that lead was wiped out almost immediately when Ondrej Palat equalised 13 seconds later.

With a little over three minutes left, the home crowd were stunned into silence again when Cedric Paquette tipped in a slick Victor Hedman pass for the winner.

Tampa Bay goal-tender Ben Bishop, who had to leave Saturday’s Game 2 in the third period, appeared to have mobility issues at times but he kept the Lightning in the game.

“He held the fort down for us for about 15 minutes in that first period, really came up huge and a got a little lucky at times too,” Tampa Bay defenseman Anton Stralman told reporters.

Bishop made 36 saves while Chicago netminder Corey Crawford made 29.

Chicago will host Game Four on Wednesday.