The Tampa Bay Lightning‘s 2020 playoff run has been about proving themselves all over again.
We all knew they were an elite team on paper. That they could score with the best of them, had a Norris caliber defenceman logging huge minutes and a Vezina caliber stopper to stabilize it all. The Lightning were a popular Stanley Cup pick for good reason, but there was always that nagging reminder in the back of our heads:
Yeah, but they were swept by the Columbus Blue Jackets last season.
Remember, that series started off so well for the Lightning, too. They were up 3-0 after the first period and it was a question whether or not they’d already chased Sergei Bobrovsky from the net. They didn’t, and Columbus came back with four unanswered goals to take Game 1. Tampa Bay didn’t really get a sniff of anything again and were outscored 15-5 over the remaining three games. They started as expected, were pushed back on and then faced a little early adversity. They didn’t handle it well and the series ended as one of the more surprising upsets of the salary cap era.
So, yeah, this year was all about redeeming a roster that’s been kept more or less the same. They’ve answered any lingering doubts by getting back to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 2015, when it looked like the Lightning were shaping up to be the next cap-era dynasty. Now, as favourites yet again, they find themselves behind 1-0 to Dallas and facing another challenge.
“It’s one game, that’s why it’s a best-of-seven series. You gotta flush the first game out and focus on Game 2,” said Pat Maroon. “I thought we dipped our toe in the water the first game. You learn from that, watch the tape and maybe throw that tape out.”
Though the Lightning took a quick road to the final, losing just four games and never getting extended to a Game 7, they have faced some tests and overcome each one.
Right out of the round robin, the Lightning faced the Columbus boogeyman and fell behind in Game 1 early. Heck, they were 23 seconds from losing that game before Ondrej Palat forced an overtime that stretched five periods deep and left us with the memorable August Epic. The Lightning won that nail-biter and each of their wins after that came by a single goal in a 4-1 series win. On to Round 2.
The divisional rival Boston Bruins did jump out to a 1-0 series lead on Tampa, and the Lightning needed overtime (and another clutch goal from Palat) to pull back to even. Tampa won the following two games by a combined 10-2 score and never looked back on a loss again. On to Round 3.
In the conference final the Lightning had the benefit of rest in Game 1, blew up the New York Islanders, and the series was never tied again. New York was the only team to force Tampa into a Game 6 and that’s where more heroics, this time from Anthony Cirelli, led the latter to victory. On to the Stanley Cup Final.
If you’re counting, the Lightning are a perfect 4-0 after losing a game in a best-of-seven series this year.
“They know how to overcome a little bit of adversity,” Stars coach Rick Bowness said. “That loss to Columbus last year, that four straight, probably made them even sharper at that and they learned from that. So when you have elite skill and you’re confident and you’ve been together that long and you’ve faced a lot of adversity over 6-7 years, it’s not just this playoffs, they know how to handle things.”
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Tampa may not admit it, but there was perhaps a built in excuse for their slower start to Game 1. Where the Lightning had a single day of rest, the Stars had four. It was an advantage that worked in Tampa’s favour for the quick turnaround start to the Eastern Final, but put them behind in this series.
So fatigue could be partially to blame for a four-shot first period, or a second in which the Lightning were also outshot by three against a much more low-event style team. The third period, when Tampa outshot Dallas 22-2, could be more of what we see out of the Lightning immediately after the puck drops on Monday’s Game 2.
“They want to play our team like they played in the third and we want to play their team like we played in the first two periods,” Bowness said. “Faceoffs become huge. Who’s controlling the faceoff and who’s getting the puck in deep. Who’s managing the pucks. Faceoffs early in this game will be huge. Puck management going through that neutral zone and at both blue lines will be hugely important in gaining momentum or giving the other team momentum. A lot of momentum Tampa got the other night was our inability to clear the puck when we had the chance, inability to get pucks out at our blue line when we had the chance, so we were just feeding their transition and that’s the last thing we want to do.
“At the start of this game tonight watch the faceoffs, watch puck management through the neutral zone, watch puck management at both blue lines.”
The fact is, we may not have seen the best of either team at the same time in Game 1 so it’s hard to tell what the pulse is right now. The Lightning still hope to get Steven Stamkos back into the lineup and though he did skate on Monday morning, he’s still considered a long shot for Game 2. “Tune in to find out,” is all Lightning coach Jon Cooper could say.
That would surely be a game-changer for these Lightning, who now have to prove their playoff mettle once more. Immediately recover from a loss again and we’ve got a best-of-five; lose Game 2 and suddenly you’re on the ropes.
This core has been there many times before. After that 2015 Cup Final appearance, the Lightning lost in the 2016 conference final and again in the 2018 conference final. They just haven’t been able to punch through and now, when they’re tantalizingly close to achieving their on-paper potential, there’s another bump in the road to navigate.
One member of the Lightning has specifically trailed these Dallas Stars in the playoffs and come out on top. Maroon was on last year’s champion St. Louis Blues when they dropped Game 1 to Dallas in the second round. That series went to a Game 7 and was a double-overtime Jamie Benn wraparound away from ending in a different result.
Maroon scored the series-winning goal for St. Louis.
“They’re the same team (as last year),” Maroon said. “I think last year we got that bounce that moved us forward and they could have had that bounce.
“They really don’t get out of their system. They’ve done a great job and goaltending is huge too. We have to find ways to get into his eyes and make it difficult for him to see pucks. They’re pretty much the same team as last year. They were one bounce away and we were fortunate to get that bounce.”
At this point, with two evenly matched teams who go about their business much differently, a similar turn of fortune may wind up being the final judgment on Tampa’s season. That comes with a measure of luck, but is created by getting the chances you want.
