One More Mountain to Climb for the Lightning

 

By Mark Pukalo

After three grueling series that included six overtime games, there is a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel for the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Four more wins and the Bolts can celebrate a second Stanley Cup title in their history, but they face another difficult obstacle in a Dallas Stars team that is finally realizing its potential.

The Lightning has reached this point by scoring clutch goals, limiting turnovers, playing solid defense at key times, getting big performances from their three healthy superstar skaters and fantastic goaltending to beat the Blue Jackets, Bruins and Islanders.

They will require more of the same to finish the job and may need another superstar to make an appearance and give a boost to their inconsistent power play.

Perhaps the most important issue for Tampa Bay as they embark on the journey in the finals Saturday is health. Brayden Point is playing at less than 100 percent, Nikita Kucherov is banged up and captain Steven Stamkos has yet to play in the postseason, but he has been skating. Heck, probably everyone in the lineup is playing hurt.

The Bolts have to fight through it as they did in the first three rounds and make plays, keep their structure defensively and allow Andrei Vasilevskiy to work his magic between the pipes.

Dallas, like the Lightning, loves to get their defensemen involved in the offense and that will be a key. In my opinion, Tampa Bay’s defenseman Victor Hedman is the frontrunner for the Conn Smythe Trophy with nine goals and a league-best plus-19, but if the Stars win you could make a case for 21-year-old D man Miro Heiskanen (22 points, 21 games) to take the trophy. One of the keys to the series will be how each defense deals with the aggressive rearguards.

Dallas, coached by former Tampa Bay assistant Rick Bowness, will need No. 2 goaltender Anton Khudobin (.920 save percentage playoffs) to continue his standout postseason. Vasilevskiy (.930 SP postseason) knocked out one fellow Russian netminder in Semyon Varlamov last series against the Islanders and now faces another countryman on a roll. If the Lightning get to Khudobin, will former Bolt Ben Bishop be healthy enough to spell him?

The Stars have plenty dangerous offensive performers in captain Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin, Alexander Radulov, Denis Gurianov and playoff ace Joe Pavelski. Once again, it is important the Lightning get some secondary offense from guys like Blake Coleman, Yanni Gourde, Ondrej Palat, Alex Killorn and Anthony Cirelli. 

The games between these two teams the last few years have been offensive shows, but that will likely change in the heat of the Stanley Cup finals. It will come down to limiting quality chances and that again falls on the Lightning defense corps.

The Bolts held the Islanders to two or fewer goals in five of six games, along with the final three contests against the offensively-gifted Bruins. Hedman and Ryan McDonagh can’t do it all. The other four or five defensemen must continue to step up.

Eric Cernak had his best series against the Islanders. Zach Bogosian has made very few mistakes. Kevin Shattenkirk whiffed on that shot in overtime versus the Isles to lose Game 5, but has been very good overall. Mikhail Sergachev drives you nuts at times, but he also makes plays. Luke Schenn has been surprisingly solid as No. 7, except for his struggles in Game 3 versus the Islanders.

The question that may have to be answered is what happens if Stamkos is ready to play? Go back to 12/6, sit Tyler Johnson, or something else? Jon Cooper has pressed the right buttons most of the playoffs so far. But his toughest job may be over the next week with the injuries he has in the locker room. Can he finally shut his critics up?

The Cup is now sitting right in front of the Lightning. It is time to reach out and grab it and wash away all the pain of the previous five years.

Four more solid efforts in their defensive zone, intelligent play in the neutral zone, and some timely goals can bring the Cup back to the beach before the end of the month.

Lightning Defense Must Shine Again

 

      By Mark Pukalo

      Eight tough wins down, eight more to go.

      The Tampa Bay Lightning have navigated two major hurdles, sending pesky Columbus home in the first round and winning four in a row to eject the big bad Boston Bruins from the Toronto bubble.

      Still, the road to the promised land is far from paved for the Bolts. Two years ago in this position they seemed like they were ready to add a second Stanley Cup and lost their momentum after beating the Bruins - getting outplayed throughout by Washington to end their dream.

      The challenge now is to stay focused and ramp up their level of play to take on a team that has probably performed better than anyone else in the postseason. The New York Islanders were outstanding in the Toronto bubble and will travel to Edmonton to meet the Lightning in the Eastern Conference finals. Standing at the door again is future Hall of Fame coach Barry Trotz, whose Capitals shut out Tampa Bay for almost the final eight periods of the series two years ago.

      Bolts coach Jon Cooper washed away the stench of last year’s first-round loss against John Tortorella and Columbus in the opening round, beat the Bruins for the second time in three seasons and now he’ll try to continue to silence his critics. It’s Cooper vs. Trotz II.

     Listen, the players ultimately decide the game. How they execute is the difference 90 percent of the time or more. But Cooper has another big chance to get the Bolts over the top. Is it his time? Or will Trotz have more answers like he seemed to have in 2018.

     Cooper has pushed the right buttons so far. He won't have injured captain Steven Stamkos again, but the Lightning are still talented enough to get the job done like they did against the Bruins.

      The Islanders can clog up the ice with their system defensively much like Columbus, but they are more mobile and have a few more dangerous offensive players than the Blue Jackets. New York’s top line of Jordan Eberle, Anders Lee and the irrepressible Mathew Barzal will pose just as much of a challenge as the Bruins’ top unit. Cooper must decide whether to use Anthony Cirelli’s line or Yanni Gourde’s threesome against them. Both must play well and Tampa Bay will need better from Tyler Johnson and Alex Killorn with Cirelli.

     Each team has received secondary scoring and that may be key to the series. Brayden Point and a healthy Nikita Kucherov have led the way for the Bolts, but everyone has to contribute without Stamkos available. 

      I think Tampa Bay can get at New York’s defense and goaltending just like it did against Boston, when the Lightning generated 169 shots in five games. The Bolts should have an advantage in goal, even though Semyon Varlamov and Thomas Greiss have stood up so far. The key will be how well the Lightning defense continues to play. Victor Hedman has been a monster and Tampa Bay's best player while fellow defensemen Kevin Shattenkirk and Zach Bogosian have stepped up big time. That group of six or seven rearguards cannot let down. They must disrupt the Islanders, not allowing Barzal and others to cruise around the zone looking to create openings. 

     The Bolts were outstanding defensively against Boston two years ago, then let the Capitals dominate the puck and wear them down before winning Game 7 at Amalie Arena. 

      To me, that’s the key to this series. Florida, Washington and Philadelphia could not handle the Islanders offense in the long run. The Lightning must limit the bad turnovers leading to transition and get the puck out of their zone cleanly. Simple as that.

      Yes, Andrei Vasilevskiy could win the series by himself. But the Bolts must give him a chance to shine.

      Tampa Bay needed to do several things to beat Boston and the Lightning checked off all the boxes. Here’s a look at what we talked about before that series.

     * Keep the Bruins power play off the ice as much as possible, but the Lightning must be very good on the penalty kill when needed. Mostly check. Boston had five power-play goals and the Bolts generated four. That’s pretty good. The Bruins did have 17 opportunities in five contests, which was a bit too much.

     * Limit blind passes, hope passes, drop passes moving forward with the puck. Mostly check. There probably was a bit too much of this during certain stretches, but they recovered well and Vasilevskiy was outstanding.

     * Keep the Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-David Pastrnak line contained. Check. The perfection line had its points, but they did not dominate and the Bolts top line was just as productive.

     * Get goals from secondary offensive threats. Check. Palat scored five times, Blake Coleman made big plays and Cirelli was better as the series went on.

     * Pat Maroon, Cedric Paquette and the feisty third line of Coleman-Gourde-Barclay Goodrow must get under the skin of the Bruins without taking extra penalties, and keep their over-rated defense working hard to get the puck out. Check. They did annoy the heck out of the Boston defense, giving the Bolts extra time with the frozen biscuit.

     * Vasilevskiy must shut the door on the Bruins at key times and show once again he is the best goalie on the planet. The Bolts should have an advantage in net against Jaroslav Halak and it must be noticed. Major check. The Big Cat dominated, stopping 147 of 157, and many of the 10 he gave up were unstoppable.

     * Improved power play. Check. Getting three in Game 3 was a dagger after Kucherov moved to the left circle. Great adjustment there by the coaching staff. They also had more pressure with the man advantage as the series went on.

     * The Lightning just can’t give the Bruins goals. Nothing can come easy. They must earn them. Mostly check. Those lazy plays by Tyler Johnson and Mikhail Sergachev could have cost them games, but for the most part the Bolts avoided the huge mistake - especially in the two overtime wins.