Blackhawks vs. Lightning: Game 5 Score and Reaction from 2015 Stanley Cup Final

The Chicago Blackhawks are now 60 minutes away from their third Stanley Cup in six seasons. The Western Conference champions beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1 Saturday night at Amalie Arena in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final to take a 3-2 series lead.

According to ESPN Stats & Info, this year's Final is making history with its glut of close games:

The margin of error in the series has been razor-thin—a couple of shots move a half-inch differently, and the entire complexion of the Stanley Cup Final could be different.

Given the way Game 5 unfolded, the Lightning will be kicking themselves for letting things slip away. Instead of taking advantage of a home-ice atmosphere, they lost and in turn must go into enemy territory for Game 6 and pick up a win.

Still, there's no sense in Tampa Bay looking back for too long. It can only look ahead and hope to survive.

The big development heading into Game 5 was the announcement that goaltender Ben Bishop—an injury doubt—would start for the Lightning ahead of Andrei Vasilevskiy, per Kevin Allen of USA Today.

Chris O'Meara/Associated Press

"If Ben Bishop can play a game, he's playing," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said before the game, per Sports Illustrated's Allan Muir.

Bishop also told Muir that "progress has been made" regarding his lower body injury, the details of which remain unknown.

Vasilevskiy did well enough in place of Bishop during Game 4, but Tampa Bay's best chance to win the Stanley Cup is with Bishop between the pipes, even if he isn't 100 percent.

However, some Lightning fans likely questioned that idea after Chicago's first goal Saturday night.

The Blackhawks capitalized on a horrendous error from Bishop to get on the board at the 6:11 mark in the first period. Chicago forward Patrick Sharp can play another 50 years, and he'll never have an easier goal.

Bishop left his goal to clear the puck, but there was a miscommunication between the goaltender and defenseman Victor Hedman. The two collided and the puck slipped between Bishop's pads past both players. Sharp stayed with the play and was richly rewarded with a simple finish to put Chicago ahead 1-0:

ESPN's Pierre LeBrun wondered why Bishop strayed so far from his position since Hedman was clearly on top of the play:

Sharp probably didn't care how he got the goal since it broke his month-long scoring drought, per the NHL:

While the nature of the goal was somewhat lucky, few could argue Chicago didn't deserve a first-period lead. The Blackhawks out-shot the Lightning 14-5 in the first 20 minutes and were clearly the better team in the attacking zone.

If anything, Tampa Bay was lucky to head into the second period down only 1-0.

However, the game evened out more in the second period as the Lightning regained their footing.

With a little over nine minutes remaining in the second, Valtteri Filppula tied the score at 1-1, sneaking his shot inside the post and past a sprawling Corey Crawford. Tampa defenseman Jason Garrison deserves a lot of credit for setting Filppula up with a beautiful assist:

NHL.com's Dan Rosen also praised Filppula for his quick reactions after Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith got the slightest of touches to Garrison's pass:

James Mirtle of the Globe and Mail thought the goal put the home crowd at ease after the Lightning's somewhat sluggish start:

But those feelings of positivity only lasted until two minutes into the third period. Chicago's Kris Versteeg got free on the breakaway and unleashed a wrist shot at Bishop. Although the Lightning goaltender turned away the first shot, Antoine Vermette was there to pounce on the rebound and put the Blackhawks ahead 2-1:

As TSN's StatsCentre noted, Vermette has a knack for scoring crucial goals this postseason:

"

Of Antoine Vermette's 4 goals in the playoffs: 2 were game winners (1 in OT, 1 in reg.) and 1 put his team ahead in the 3rd (result pending)

— StatsCentre (@StatsCentre) June 14, 2015"

The Lightning didn't lose for a lack of trying in the third period. They heaped pressure on Crawford at every opportunity. Unfortunately for Tampa Bay, Crawford was up to the task each time. He made a few key saves that preserved the win.

SI NHL was quick to point out just how dominant Crawford had been over the last two games:

With the series going back to Chicago, it's difficult to see how the Lightning have a good chance of pushing it to a Game 7. Tampa Bay did win Game 3 in the United Center, but Monday night will be an entirely different beast.

Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News drew attention to the fact that Blackhawks fans will have an extra reason to be particularly vocal Monday night:

Of course, it's premature to hand Chicago the title already. Raucous home crowds can sometimes prove counterproductive, putting too much pressure on players.

No team is as battle-tested in the playoffs as the Blackhawks, though. It's one thing for them to have a 3-2 lead in the Stanley Cup Final. It's something else entirely to have a 3-2 series lead with a chance to clinch at home.

You wouldn't want to bet against the Blackhawks on Monday.