June 04--TAMPA, Fla. -- This is what the Blackhawks do.
Down a goal in the third period of an opponent's building for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final, the Blackhawks never seem rattled and never were out of it.
There was likely not a fan watching the game on TV, nor anyone wearing a Blackhawks sweater Wednesday night at Amalie Arena who didn't think the Hawks would at least tie the game after being down 1-0 for most of the night.
Sure enough, it happened, and then some. Someone came through. Someone always comes through. This time, it was Teuvo Teravainen's turn on the big stage.
Before the game, Chairman Rocky Wirtz was thorough in his praise of general manager Stan Bowman.
Bowman, Wirtz said, is ready to handle the team's impending salary-cap crunch in part because the organization is good at developing young talent on rookie deals that will help fill the void of high-priced veterans. You need look no further than the 20-year-old Teravainen to realize the future isn't so doom and gloom for the Hawks after this season.
It was Teravainen who scored the tying goal and one minute and 58 seconds later, he poked away the puck from the Lightning's J.T. Brown that set up the Blackhawks' second goal.
"I've said before I'm a lot more confident out there than in the media right here," Teravainen said. "So that's a good thing to be. When I scored the goal I think the first thing was, 'Oh no, I have to go do media now.' "
Teravainen will live with it if that's the worst thing that happened to him and the Hawks on Wednesday. Whatever indefinable qualities the Blackhawks possess in big games -- grit, determination, composure or a combination -- seemed to have rubbed off on Teravainen.
"Great teams (can come back) and I haven't been a part (of this team) for many years but I knew this is the team who can do that anytime," he said. "We just fight back, play harder and get it back. Great teams do that."
It's a thought his teammates echoed.
"We certainly believe in ourselves in our locker room," winger Patrick Sharp said. "We're never out of any game despite the score, how it looks out there. ... It seems like the so-called hero can come from anybody at any time."
The Lightning found that out the hard way in Game 1, but if they've paid attention to the Blackhawks in the last seven years, it shouldn't have come as much of a surprise.
