Blackhawks left wanting more after loss to Lightning originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
If you told the Blackhawks going into their three-game series against the defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning that they would come away with three of six points, they might have taken it. Instead, they were left unsatisfied and wanting more.
In the opener, the Blackhawks took a 2-0 lead but let it get away and lost 3-2 in overtime with 0.1 seconds left. The next day, they overcame deficits of 2-0 and 3-2 en route to a 4-3 shootout win.
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On Sunday, the Blackhawks took a commanding 3-0 lead but gave up six unanswered goals and wrapped up the series with a sour taste in their mouths.
"This loss is very disappointing," Mattias Janmark said. "I feel like we could've won all three games."
The Blackhawks certainly were in a position to do so, but that doesn't necessarily mean they deserved to win all three games. They gave up four power-play goals on Sunday and committed 11 penalties over the last two games, which is way too many against an offensive powerhouse like the Lightning.
"We let in too many easy goals," Janmark said. "They’re probably doing something different, but I feel like we've got to do something to stop the bleeding there at 3-1 or 3-2 or whatever. When we’re up 3-0, we’ve got to know how to play those games, too. That’s two games here where we’ve had that lead and we let it go way too fast. We’ve got to learn from that."
If there's one positive the Blackhawks could take away from the series, it's that they proved they can compete with elite teams. That was one of the biggest question marks going into the three-game set after stringing together wins against teams near the bottom of the Central Division.
"We showed our top level is good enough, for sure," Colliton said. "We can play with these guys. They’ve shown what it is to be a Cup winner and an elite team. You can’t deny we had a lot of the play in these three games, yet they got five points. They find ways to survive when we had the momentum, and then they found ways to turn it and get paid off for it and climb back into games a couple times. Their energy level is pretty high as well."
The Blackhawks will take their three points, build on the positives and learn from the negatives as they prepare for their longest road trip of the season (six games) starting on Tuesday in Dallas.
"It’s a good team and we’ve proven that we can play with them," Janmark said. "But now it’s up to us to respond from this loss here. We’ve got some big games coming up here, so we’ve got to get back in the winning ways."
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