By Mark Pukalo
We have a series now.
You wondered if this was going to be one of the few times that the Tampa Bay Lightning did not respond to a bad game, or a rough stretch, with a big performance. Washington was playing so well and the Bolts looked frustrated after two home losses to start the Eastern Conference finals.
But one thing we should all know from watching this core group of players in Tampa Bay over the past four seasons is they have a lot of pride and character. Some nights they look awful - playing too fancy, failing to shoot, leaving guys wide open in the slot and turning the puck over sloppily. They almost always have had an answer the next game.
That Lightning team showed up Tuesday. They skated harder, were more aggressive defensively, capitalized on the power play (5-for-12 in the series after 2-for-5 in Game 3) and basically put up a fight against Washington. They were even better on the penalty kill.
It wasn’t perfect. The Capitals still had 38 shots on net, but the amount of real quality chances were limited compared to the first two games.
Andrei Vasilevskiy sure had to be good, though, and he was. The Big Cat was seeing the puck better and seemed to be a step ahead of Washington’s shooters. It’s still strange to me that many national writers brought his name up as one of the problems in the first two games.
Give coach Jon Cooper credit. I was thinking just flip Ondrej Palat and J.T. Miller on the top two lines for Game 3 to shake things up. He went one further and matched Miller with Anthony Cirelli and Alex Killorn on a sort of “grind line” as Caps coach Barry Trotz put it. Yanni Gourde joined Tyler Johnson and Brayden Point on a new speedy line and Palat teamed with captain Steven Stamkos along with Nikita Kucherov to give that unit a little more pace. The freshness worked while Cedric Paquette trio with Ryan Callahan and Chris Kunitz was much better than the first two games.
But the most improvement was on the backend as Anton Stralman and Ryan McDonagh came back with a strong effort while Victor Hedman (goal, two assists) was downright dominant. Hedman boasts a franchise playoff-record eight-game point streak and Dan Girardi did his job impeccably beside the Swede on Tuesday.
The victory puts plenty of pressure on Washington to win Thursday night and keep home ice advantage. Expect the Capitals to come out flying and perhaps add injured Nicklas Backstrom (hand) to the lineup for more skill up front.
Vasilevskiy may have to produce his best performance in the playoffs, especially in the first 10-12 minutes. There have been storms the last few days in D.C. and the Bolts will have to weather another one Thursday.
All of that should not matter if the Lightning skate and support like they did in Game 3. But they can’t allow Alex Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov to get 21 shots on net again.
The Bolts are in this series now, though. Even if they lose a close game Thursday, you have confidence a trip to the Cup finals is still possible with two of the final three at home.
What a difference a game makes.
My three stars for Game 3: 1. Hedman; 2. Vasilevskiy; 3. Point. Close: Kucherov, Stamkos, McDonagh, Paquette.
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