Third Down and Goal: Hawks 2, Lightning 1 and Saturday's Big Boy

Tonight's was another game typical of this series, with tight checking, big momentum swings and some of the most entertaining hockey you're likely to see.  Mistakes have been costly in this series and, while there have been precious few glaring errors committed, those that have occurred have often been game-changers.  It can be easy to be frustrated when these gaffes result in a loss, but these are ostensibly the best two hockey teams in the world; opportunities are not easy to come by and, when they do, the best teams will create these chances and cash in on them, too.
Ben Bishop screwed up tonight.  The Hawks' first goal was all on him, but I believe that events like this, at this level, are usually more than the yips or stupidity.  A quality opponent like The Hawks can force an error like Bishop's, with their speed and their depth of skill, even on a play that, if it were executed properly just as it would be 98% of the time, would amount to nothing more than the puck leaving the zone and heading the other way.  When you hear those footsteps behind you, though...
Other stuff:
- This was the closest The Hawks have come to rolling four lines since...I don't know when.  The icetime for the third and fourth lines increased in the third period and maybe those slightly fresher legs did make a difference.
- Antoine Vermette is still being criminally under-utilized.  As much as I'd love to see him back next year I wonder what's in it for him.
- Brendan Morrow plays for Tampa?  Really?
- The NHL media can drone on all they like about The Lightning being beaten up, but they're the team rolling six defencemen and I think I'd take a healthy Bryan Bickell over Kucharov...maybe.

Well, this is weird but, at the same time, satisfying.  There's the old chestnut about even a broken clock being right twice a day and, since Patrick Kane was injured some months ago, Kris Versteeg has looked, well, bad a lot of the time.  This may be only the second game since the sudden dispersal of the 88-91-23 line in which Versteeg had any positive impact.  Take it, build on it, get excited and stay focused for Game Six.

                             Can ya keep it together for two more days, Steeger?