Bedard scores to help Blackhawks surge past Lightning

TAMPA -- Connor Bedard scored the first of four straight goals for the Chicago Blackhawks, who came from behind to defeat the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-1 at Amalie Arena on Tuesday.

Arvid Soderblom made 15 of his 34 saves in the third period for the Blackhawks (16-29-5), who had lost seven straight on the road. Landon Slaggert and Ryan Donato also scored, and Seth Jones had two assists.

"We played good, special teams were great and we were able to put some goals in," Soderblom said. "The PK was huge tonight (3-for-3). It was fun playing them again and I finally got the win."

The teams played for the second time in five days; Tampa Bay defeated Chicago 4-3 in overtime at United Center Friday. Soderblom made 36 saves in that game.

"We played them good last game," Bedard said. "When you play a team kind of back to back like that almost, it's motivation to get a win when they beat you. So it was good to come in here and do that."

Brayden Point scored for the Lightning (26-20-3), who are 1-4-0 in their past five games. Jonas Johansson made 16 saves.

Tampa Bay goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy missed the game with an illness.

"We've got to learn from this. We've got to get better here," Lightning defenseman Ryan McDonagh said. "Obviously it's a tough stretch and we're going through a lot of adversity. It's a good test for us because it can go one way or the other. So we've got to stick together and get out of this together."

Point gave the Lightning a 1-0 lead at 3:34 of the first period. He scored with a wrist shot from the right hash marks to the far side off Nikita Kucherov’s pass from below the goal line.

Tampa Bay has seven goals in its past four games and was coming off a 2-0 loss at the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday.

"We've got to capitalize on our chances for sure," Point said. "The last few games -- one goal or two goals. We have to get back to some details that have helped us win this year."

Bedard tied it 1-1 at 10:19 of the second period. He skated through the right face-off circle and scored with a sharp-angled wrist shot that went between Johansson’s head and left shoulder at the near post.

"It's not the easiest shot to score on," Bedard said. "It felt good when it left the stick, but you don't know until it's in, but you know, you can feel it. Fortunately it went in."

Slaggert put the Blackhawks ahead 2-1 at 18:14 with a snap shot from the top of the left circle off a drop pass from Lukas Reichel. Slaggert was playing his first NHL game of the season, having been recalled from Rockford of the American Hockey League on Sunday.

"It's definitely good to pick up where I left off," said Slaggert, who played 16 games with Chicago last season. "That's kind of your plan every night -- to get on the score sheet, but you know ... just focus on playing the right way and good things will happen."

Soderblom kept it a one-goal game at 4:47 of the third, stretching out his right pad to make a save from in close against Nick Paul.

"I liked the one [against Paul] kind of on the breakaway ... pad save ... because we're up 2-1 and to come up with that save feels good," Soderblom said. "The team gets a lot of energy from those."

Donato then extended the lead to 3-1 at 8:02 when one-timed a rebound from the left side after Jones’ shot caromed off the end boards.

Soderblom preserved the lead, stopping Anthony Cirelli on consecutive shots from in front at 16:17 with Johansson pulled for the extra attacker.

Teuvo Teravainen scored into an empty net at 19:03 for the 4-1 final.

"We had ample chances, especially in that first period, to not only get the lead like we did, but extend it," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. "And for whatever reason we're making every goalie we play look like a Vezina [Trophy] candidate. That's a little bit frustrating and then I think we get frustrated that we aren't scoring."

NOTES: Bedard has 18 points (seven goals, 11 assists) in his past 17 games. ... Jones has nine points (two goals, seven assists) during a six-game personal point streak dating to Jan. 13. He missed one game with an illness during that stretch. ... The Blackhawks won on the road for the first time since defeating the New York Rangers 2-1 on Dec. 9. ... Point has 16 points (seven goals, nine assists) in 10-game point streak against the Blackhawks dating to March 20, 2021. It is the second-longest active run against Chicago, behind Edmonton Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl (17 games). Point also extended his home goal streak to five games (five goals), tied for the longest run in the NHL this season. ... Kucherov (assist) has 20 points (six goals, 14 assists) in his past 13 games.