Gourde helps Lightning rally for 6-3 victory over Blackhawks

CHICAGO -- — The Tampa Bay Lightning needed some energy, and Yanni Gourde delivered.

As usual.

Gourde had two goals and two assists, and the Lightning used their power play to rally for a 6-3 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday.

“He does that all the time for us,” coach Jon Cooper said. “That's why he's having a successful NHL career, because he never stops going. He never gives up on plays. He's just a worker."

Gourde had one of Tampa Bay's three power-play goals during its four-goal second period. Pat Maroon added his 100th career goal in the third, giving the Lightning a season-high four goals with the man advantage.

“Every shift I step on the ice in the second period I was trying to bring people to the fight with me,” Gourde said. “That's something I really like doing. It's part of me. It's part of my game.”

Ondrej Palat and Victor Hedman also scored power-play goals in the second. Alex Killorn scored for the third straight game, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 22 stops.

The Lightning improved to 3-0-1 on their season-long six-game trip and stretched their point streak to a season-high eight games. The reigning Stanley Cup champions took two of three in the series between Central Division contenders.

Mattias Janmark had a goal and an assist for the Blackhawks. Philipp Kurashev and Pius Suter also scored, and Kevin Lankinen made 33 saves.

“We'll bounce back, I'm certain of that,” coach Jeremy Colliton said. “We got to take the good with us and obviously there's room for improvement.”

Chicago opened a 3-0 lead when Janmark fed Suter in front for the rookie's eighth goal of the season 3:11 into the second. But Tampa Bay responded with a big push.

The rally started with goals by Palat and Gourde 23 seconds apart. Palat beat Lankinen from the right circle for a power-play goal at 3:51, and then Gourde knocked in his own rebound for his seventh of the season.

Two more power-play goals put Tampa Bay in front to stay. Victor Hedman got his fifth of the season when he blasted one home from near the blue line. Gourde then made it 4-3 when he converted a slap shot from the top of the left circle with 3:05 left in the period.

“I feel like we got to do something to stop the bleeding there at 3-1 or 3-2 or whatever,” Janmark said. “When we're up 3-0, we got to know how to play those games, too.”

The Lightning played with the man advantage for a large chunk of the second. The only successful kill for the Blackhawks in the period occurred after defenseman Connor Murphy was ejected for an illegal hit to the head of Lightning defenseman Erik Cernak at 9:27.

After he was visited by a trainer, Cernak skated off gingerly and missed the rest of the game with what the team said was an upper-body injury. The hit behind Chicago's net likely will draw some level of punishment for Murphy from the league.

Cooper said he didn't have an update on the severity of Cernak's injury.

“It's tough. Those are just tough hits to take,” Cooper said.

Coming off a 4-3 shootout win Friday night, the Blackhawks controlled much of the first period. Kurashev got his sixth of the season on a nice backhand in front, and Janmark finished a pretty passing sequence for a power-play goal at 15:34.

ABOUT THAT LINEUP

Chicago defenseman Calvin de Haan was scratched. He left Friday's win after blocking a shot.

With de Haan out, the Blackhawks went with 11 forwards and seven defensemen. Wyatt Kalynuk made his NHL debut, and Lucas Carlsson also entered the lineup. Forward Lucas Wallmark was scratched.

INJURIES

The Lightning played without defenseman Jan Rutta, who missed his second straight game with a lower-body injury. Defenseman Andreas Borgman played in his first NHL game since Feb. 1, 2018, for Toronto.

UP NEXT

Lightning: Visit the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday night.

Blackhawks: Open a six-game trip at Dallas on Tuesday night.

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Jay Cohen can be reached at https://twitter.com/jcohenap

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