Vincent Lecavalier gets overtime goal leading Tampa Bay Lightning to victory over Chicago Blackhawks
Steven Stamkos earned his second hat trick of the 2011-2012 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season in three nights and Vincent Lecavalier scored a last minute goal again, this time in overtime, to lead the Tampa Bay Lightning over the Chicago Blackhawks,
5-4, Friday night, November 4, 2011, at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa, Florida.
Tampa Bay and Chicago only face off once a year and the Lightning showed the Blackhawks what type of team they really are with a win they will remember all season long.
Getting their second victory out of their past three matchups now, Tampa Bay Lightning head coach, Guy Boucher, was certainly satisfied with his teams performance.
"Our team has character and resilience and we continue to persist", Boucher said. "We know we have that. We will never quit in any games and we need to remind ourselves of that. We built this attitude from all last year and I'm real proud of this team".
After a scoreless first period and Ryan Shannon giving the only penalty of the opening 20 minutes, Steven Stamkos kicked it off with his seventh of the season only 15 seconds into the second.
Patrick Sharp answered back on their second added man advantage in the next minute, followed by a tie-breaker by Brett Connolly but only to be equalised by Marian Hossa then extended by Daniel Carcillo and again by Patrick Sharp, all within nearly a minute
of each other.
Steven Stamkos fired back for two more at 11:45 and 19:27, the second being on their first power play, for a hat trick and to level the contest to enter the third period with a chance to take the lead.
Both teams failed to score in the third period and were forced into an uncertain overtime, which certainly disappointed the Chicago team after their offensive outburst in the second.
"We had the momentum, we had them on their heels", Blackhawks captain, Jonathan Toews, said. "But we got into some bad habits and let them back into it".
Tampa Bay Lightning remain in Florida as they are scheduled to go up against the Panthers on Sunday while Blackhawks return home to host the Vancouver Canucks the same day.
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