Andrei Vasilevskiy didn’t start the game for the Tampa Bay Lightning but he certainly ended it for the Chicago Blackhawks. He was perfect in relief of Ben Bishop as the Lightning topped the Blackhawks 4-3 in the second game of the Stanley Cup final.

“We have confidence in that kid,” Steve Stamkos told Sportsnet of Vasilevskiy after the game.

The two teams will head to Chicago even at one win a piece in the seven-game series.

After their game seven win against the New York Rangers in the Eastern Conference final, Lightning head coach Jon Cooper joked that his team could win myriad different ways but if an opponent wanted to get into a shootout, his guys liked to win that way.

Tonight – and especially in a wide-open second period – the Blackhawks found that out the hard way.

In the first game, it was a safe style that burned the Lightning, who seemed content to bury a small lead and watched at the tides eroded away their victory. That wasn’t the case in game two.

“We are learning the Stanley Cup playoffs on the job,” Cooper said after the win.

Following a minimal amount of offensive output from both teams in game one, the Blackhawks and Lightning threw caution to the wind in the opening period of game two. Both teams traded chances, seemingly unworried about the opposition’s opportunities, focused more on capitalizing in their own right.

It was the Lightning who got on the board first, just like game one.

At 12:56 of the first period, Cedric Paquette, who’s battled injury and uncertainty in the playoffs, snuck a wrist shot under the right armpit of goaltender Corey Crawford, while bodies piled in front of the goalmouth creating mass static and disruption. The goal – Paquette’s second of the playoffs – gave the Lighting a 1-0 lead, to head into the dressing room at the end of the first.

The lead earned by the Lightning in the first didn’t last long into the second period, when Andrew Shaw out-battled Lightning defenseman Jason Garrison to gain position and tap in an easy Andrew Desjardins rebound past a sprawling Bishop.

It was the quintessential, nuisance-filled Shaw goal, who was mere inches from Bishop, like a mosquito buzzing past his ear repeatedly to create just enough of a distraction.

In a series highlighted by star talent, it has really been the role players stepping up and providing the offense, which is so often the case in a series with so few games and so few real chances.

Less than three minutes later, on the power play, Teuvo Tervanien, the game one star, took a feed from Marian Hossa in the slot and buried a chance past Bishop to give the Blackhawks a 2-1 lead. Brandon Saad provided the screen in front for the away team.

It was Teravanien’s fourth of the playoffs, matching his regular season total.

The Lightning – sinking seemingly quickly – were able to turn things around in an expedited fashion.

Garrison, who was burned on Chicago’s first goal, glided a swift shot across the ice from the blueline and Nikita Kucherov – one of the “triplets” – changed the puck’s direction. It seemed that as soon as the game was tied at one goal apiece, it was tied at again at two goals each.

The period was high-flying, end-to-end action. It felt like both teams were going to score a dozen.

Naturally, the scoring continued.

It was the 20th shot on goal from the Lightning – if you could call it a shot – that broke the knot. Tyler Johnson, who leads all players in goals, flipped a routine puck to the right post. Crawford should have been there, but he wasn’t and it resulted in the Lightning taking a 3-2 lead.

The goal was Johnson’s 13th of the playoffs, making him the franchise leader in playoff goals, surpassing Brad Richards who plays for the Blackhawks now, but won the Conn Smythe trophy as the playoff most valuable player a decade ago when the Lightning last raised the Stanley Cup.

From the locker room to the ice, Chicago came out with a new look to start the third: Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane were split, most likely in an effort to free at least one of them from the clutches of Anton Stralman and Hedman, the super-star Swedish defense pair for the Lightning.

It didn’t really matter, because against Hedman and Stralman, Toews dropped the puck the defenseman Brent Seabrook and with Hossa in front – much to the argument of Bishop – a low shot beat Bishop to tie the game early in the third.

Bishop and Cooper both argued that the goaltender was interfered with – something that, starting next season can be challenged by coaches – but to no avail. The goal was legitimately scored.

Nearing the mid-way point of the third, Bishop left the ice for a shift.

The brief respite – only 1:32 – allowed 20-year-old Vasilevskiy to become the goaltender of record and ultimately get the win in the Stanley Cup final.

That win can be attributed to the back-to-back penalties taken by veteran winger Patrick Sharp, allowing the Lightning to gain significant offensive zone time to break the deadlock.

The goal was Garrison’s point shot, which deflected off a Blackhawks penalty killer.

Just a few minutes later, Vasilevskiy, a former first-round pick, took the ice again at the Lightning watched their starting goalie head down the tunnel to the room.

The Russian goaltender, in earning his first Stanley Cup playoff win, was fantastic. He faced a half-hearted Blackhawks power play and late surge, but was spectacular.

Postgame, questions remained about Bishop’s health and status.

“I hate to be that guy, but I won’t answer any Bishop questions,” Cooper said.

Game three is in Chicago on Monday night, with puck drop scheduled for 8pm.