The Blackhawks have won three Stanley Cups in the last seven seasons for a handful of reasons.
One of them has been their resiliency, no matter what the score is and when. Another is their ability to shut the door late in games when owning a lead.
The Tampa Bay Lightning know this better than anyone, a year and a half removed from falling in six games to the Blackhawks in the 2015 Stanley Cup Final.
Entering Tuesday, the Blackhawks were 78-0-5 when leading after two periods since the start of the 2014-15 season.
That streak of having not lost in regulation during those games came to an end when the Lightning scored four goals in the third period to take home a 5-2 victory at the United Center, a streak that even Tampa Bay couldn't help but be amazed at.
"It just shows what kind of team they are and how good they are with the lead, and how they play when they have the lead," said Lightning forward Alex Killorn, who assisted on two of the four third-period goals. "I think we did a great job coming back in. It's a pretty cool stat when you put it that way."
After taking a 2-1 lead into the third period, Nikita Nesterov lit the lamp 2:47 into the final frame to tie it up at 2-2.
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No problem. The Blackhawks have been here before, and have consistently found ways to retake the lead and extend their streak that snapped at 83 games. They did it as recently as Sunday, when they squandered a 2-0 lead to Vancouver but pulled away in the end for a 4-2 victory.
And it was also still early enough where they could brush it off and regroup.
The Lightning didn't give them time to, though.
Tyler Johnson found the back of the net twice within 30 seconds of each other shortly after, and before they knew it, the Blackhawks had given up a trio of even-strength goals before the first TV timeout.
“They get a big shot right off the goal, right off the faceoff," Joel Quenneville said. "Then they score. Didn’t look dangerous. Then they score two quick goals and now we’re behind against a dangerous team. We did some good things around the net tonight, we had a lot of scoring chances. Didn’t have the finish.”
Nikita Kucherov iced the game when he buried home the empty-netter, leaving the Blackhawks left empty-handed.
"Yeah, that hasn't happened a whole lot," Patrick Kane said of the Blackhawks' streak. "Even if we give up that lead, we're finding ways to win those games. It was 2-1, you're in a good spot and you give up two quick ones, and all of a sudden you're chasing the game. A little disappointing.
"Going into the third, we wanted to control the puck, make sure we're making good plays. (Nesterov) made a good shot off the faceoff, a couple nice rush plays for them. But no excuse. Going into the third, we want to win those games with the lead, especially at home."
It was the Blackhawks' first regulation loss in the regular season when leading after two periods since April 12, 2014 vs. Nashville when they entered the third with a 3-2 lead but lost 7-5. That's almost three years.
Despite it being a remarkable run — and bound to end at some point — the Blackhawks know they let one get away, and won't settle for anything less than coming away with at least a point in games they hold a lead after 40 minutes going forward.
"We can't be letting games like that slip away," said Jonathan Toews, who had one goal and an assist in the loss. "I think the talk for a long time has been starting games a little bit better. I think we've been seeing that.
"Obviously if we're in the right spot, we're in the driver's seat going into the third periods with a lead, whether it's one goal or more than that, we've got to find ways to play better. I think a team like that, especially with their speed, they're going to come hard and the finish wasn't there tonight."