CHICAGO-- In the playoffs, history provides guidance about what lies ahead.

In the Chicago Blackhawks locker room, the time has come for their history to become their present and for their considerable historic mojo to become a talisman to future glory.

For the first time this postseason, the Blackhawks have lost two games in a row after dropping Game 3 at home on Monday.

They must bounce back in Wednesday's Game 4 or face the prospect the Tampa Bay Lightning could hoist the Stanley Cup at home on Saturday.

It is a sobering thought given how well the Lightning have played through the first three games of this compelling final series.

They have scored first in all three games and twice have erased deficits within games to earn victories. They have limited Chicago stars Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane to one assist in three games.

Yet if there is even a ripple of discontent within the Blackhawks room, it has not shown.

That’s what happens when you build the body of work that the Blackhawks have built under head coach Joel Quenneville, going an incredible 40-14 in Game 4s and beyond in playoff series.

When you have that kind of experience, you simply learn not to internalize the losses nor exaggerate the wins.

"The emotions are so high, so low," Toews explained. "One day you win a game in the first round, you get that feeling you're going all the way to the Cup, nothing can stop you. The next day you lose, all of a sudden that thought crosses your mind, better luck next year, that's the way it's going to go.

"I think now you have that experience, you've played a lot of those games, you realize you don't have to kind of ride the roller coaster that way. You can dig deep and find a way to bounce back after tough games when the feeling isn't so good. You realize you don't have to waste any of that emotional or mental energy off the ice in between games. You shut it off and make sure you're ready for the next one."

But how does that happen?

Is it organic? Something that just seems to percolate up out of the skates of the Blackhawks’ players and seep into their pores? Or is there something else to it?

The Blackhawks must recover for Game 4 after losing two straight games for the first time this postseason. Reinhold Matay/USA TODAY Sports

"I don't think there's one thing you can put a finger on," said defenseman Brent Seabrook.

"I think the guys in the room, we want to be out there and win. We want to be out there in those situations and play in big games. For whatever reason, I think we play our best games when our backs are up against the wall."

Obviously the team isn’t pleased to fall behind in a series as they did in the conference finals against Anaheim when the Ducks took a 3-2 series lead, but there’s no waver in the Blackhawks in those situations.

"I think we have confidence when we get in those situations that we can take it one game at a time, focus on the next game, continue to put pressure on the other team," Toews said.

Look back to when the Blackhawks faced the Boston Bruins in the 2013 Stanley Cup finals.

The Bruins blew a 3-1 lead and lost in triple overtime in Game 1 and then bounced back to win Game 2 in overtime by a 2-1 count. When the Bruins took their first series lead with a 2-0 victory in Game 3 at home, it seemed as though Tuukka Rask and the Bruins had the Blackhawks’ number. But it didn’t turn out that way as the Hawks won three straight to win their second Stanley Cup since 2010.

"It happens sometimes," Toews said. "You're up against good teams that are working hard, doing all the right things. You're not always going to be in complete control of a series.

"We've been up in series, we've been down in some series, especially this year. Here we are down 2-1. I think we're confident we can go out there and find a way to even it up tomorrow night."

At this same point in the 2013 finals, it felt like the Bruins had worn down the Blackhawks and were the superior team in terms of team depth and impact players -- Patrice Bergeron, Zdeno Chara, Rask -- making a statement.

And yet it was Toews who boldly said they weren’t going to skirt around Chara on the Boston blue line but instead go after him, make him pay a price for handling the puck. On many levels the strategy worked as Chara started to break down during the latter stages of the series.

It also opened an avenue for Toews and Kane to influence the series.

That hasn’t happened in this series, but the operative feeling is it hasn't happened yet.

"We got a great core of leaders," Quenneville said Tuesday.

"They're competitive as heck. They find a way to get better each and every game. They make guys around them better. They have accountability internally. They demonstrate that by how they compete. Guys seem to follow. I think that's the best recipe for a coach to have."

Maybe the key is in being angry at having lost Games 2 and 3 without becoming unruly or less confident.

"I think there's confidence in the group that we're able to do it," Quenneville said. "I'm worried about one game. And we haven't seen our best yet."

We know the Blackhawks are flirting with the notion of dynasty for a reason: Quite simply they find a way no matter what.

What makes the coming days so compelling is that we don’t quite yet know how the Lightning fit into the equation.

Will they follow the path taken by the Ducks in the conference finals or the Bruins in 2013? The path that says, not yet, not this time?

Or is there something about this Lightning team and its DNA that somehow mirrors that of the Blackhawks?

"We're a long ways away yet," said Tampa Bay veteran Brenden Morrow, who is looking for his first-ever Stanley Cup championship.

"That locker room over there, there's no panic in their game right now. They've been here before. They know what it takes. So we know we got a tough road ahead of us. I know we're not there yet. We got to keep plugging away here. We came here to get a win. Last night we got one. We got to get greedy and get another one tomorrow night. That's our focus. We'll go from there."

Interesting parallels, though, between these two emotionally strong, strong-will teams.

"I think at some point the ebbs and flows of the playoffs, teams are going to have success and some are going to struggle," Tampa head coach Jon Cooper said Tuesday. "It's the ones that consistently have success that are going to move on. I truly believe we've grown as a team through some of our struggles."

He noted how they fell behind 2-1 in Game 3 but tied it up 13 seconds later.

"That's what I love about this group," Cooper said. "In some of these situations we've gone through in the playoffs, maybe early, some of these games, we didn't have the ability to come back. But with every day and every game, this team keeps growing. It's a lot of fun to be behind the bench with them."

While the Blackhawks are waiting for their brightest stars to make themselves known on the score sheet in this series, the same is true for Lightning captain Steven Stamkos who is without a point thus far in the series.

Stamkos said he is expecting nothing less than the Blackhawks’ best effort in Game 4, and they are expecting the same from themselves.

"They're going to respond," Stamkos said. "This is going to be a good test for this group. Obviously they have the experience. But we're going through it. You have to go through these situations to gain that experience.

"We seem to rise to the occasion every round."

Both teams are drawing on history -- both recent and more far-reaching-- but there will only be room for one team in the end.