The Blackhawks found themselves chasing early again in this one when Victor Hedman scored a power play goal at 4:12 into the first period. What was noticeably different in this first period, however, was the Blackhawks were more physical. Maybe after they were called soft by the TNT crew someone said something in the room but it looked like every player on the ice was initiating contact from the opening puck drop (the Hawks out-hit Tampa 15-3 in the first period). The Blackhawks were hanging around a fairly close period and playing pretty well until old friend Ilya Mikheyev scored a goal with 99 seconds left in the period to double Tampa’s lead. That can’t happen. And it wasn’t a tough shot to save.
An eventful second period came and went without a goal being scored. The Blackhawks killed two penalties and there was a nice scrap in the middle 20 minutes. After two periods, Natural Stat Trick had both teams with four high danger chances and Tampa holding a 10-8 advantage in scoring chances at 5-on-5.
Tampa extended their lead early in the third period and three felt like the climb was too much against a Lightning team that was undefeated at home entering the game. Tampa’s fourth goal came from Mikheyev, who understood the revenge game assignment apparently. The Blackhawks foiled Andrei Vasilevskiy’s shutout bid with 49.2 seconds remaining in regulation.
Star 1: Dillon Boucher
Boucher finally found a willing dance partner in the second period. He was physical all night and his teammates appreciated a good scrap. He got a few stitches above his right eye for the effort. Boucher racked up seven hits in 8:12 of ice time.
Boucher vs Viel HUGE TILT pic.twitter.com/92b7tFimSO
— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) November 6, 2026Star 2: Roman Kantserov
Kantserov did indeed extend his point streak with his NHL rookie-leading eighth goal of the season late in the game.
GOAL: Roman Kantserov keeps his point streak alive by tallying his 8th of the season. pic.twitter.com/pJaazijvPJ
— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) November 6, 2026Star 3: Cole Smith
Smith had two shots on net and a team-leading six hits in 8:47 at the end of two periods. He had two of the Blackhawks’ four even-strength high danger chances and his 0.39 individual expected goals was three times any other skater in Chicago’s lineup at 5-on-5. This was the version of Smith that excited me when the Hawks signed him this summer. We need to see more of this from him.
Key Takeaways
On a team that’s struggling to score goals, Mikheyev’s goal can’t go in — especially late in a period. Arvid Söderblom should have seen that one pretty clearly and just whiffed. Those moments have killed this team. Tampa’s third goal was a 93 mph hammer from Ryan McDonagh but Söderblom had a clean look at that shot, too. Hedman’s power play goal in the first period was an incredibly simple give-and-go on which Alex Vlasic bit on the give and nobody had his back to cover the go. Communication needs to be there. Instincts must be better. Wyatt Kaiser was caught watching Hedman on the back side of the play. Early in the second period, the Blackhawks sent Connor Bedard and Kantserov over the boards for an offensive zone faceoff with… Anton Frondell. Kantserov took the faceoff. Bedard took a penalty. Chicago survived the PK, and the line looked like an opportunity-based move and nothing permanent (though I’m sure a section of the fan base needs a cigarette thinking about the potential there). Frondell spent 79 seconds with Bedard at 5-on-5 in the game. Speaking of things that will make a segment of the fan base need a lung dart, the Blackhawks were out-hitting the Lightning 26-6 thru two periods. Smith, Boucher and Frank Nazar had three hits each in the first period. At the end of two periods, Smith had a team-leading six hits and Boucher was credited with five. Nazar was up to four hits after two for the Blackhawks. The final hits count: 31-13 for the Hawks. At 5-on-5 in the first period, the Blackhawks had a 2-0 advantage in high danger chances and both sides had three scoring chances. Overall, shots were only 8-6 in favor of the Lightning… which is what makes that late goal hurt so much. The Blackhawks won only 3 of 15 faceoffs in the first period. The Blackhawks won 10 of 30 faceoffs in the second period (yes, 30 faceoffs) to improve to… 29 percent at the dot thru 40 minutes. After a lackluster third period in which the Bolts were playing with a comfortable lead, the Blackhawks finished the night winning 26 of 69 faceoffs in the game (38 percent). Jon Cooper was feeding Anton Frondell a steady diet of Jake Guentzel, Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov thru two periods. In the almost five minutes of 5-on-5 that Frondell spent against that line, Tampa out-shot the Hawks 4-1 but Chicago had a 53.98 expected goals for percentage.Hence then, the article about blackhawks 1 lightning 4 three stars key takeaways was published today ( ) and is available on Bleacher Nation ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
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