If anyone needed a reminder on how the Tampa Bay Lightning won the Stanley Cup last year, we draw your attention to the two-game defensive clinic they just put on in Raleigh.
“If you’re going to sit here and say, ‘we’re going to go to Carolina and not give up a 5-on-5 goal in two games,’ I’d take that all day,” smiled Lightning coach Jon Cooper, following a 2-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes.
“Yes, I’m happy with our defensive effort.”
In a lineup peppered with an embarrassment of riches, Tuesday’s crown jewel was once again Andrei Vasilevskiy, who followed up his fourth straight Vezina Trophy nomination in the morning with a 31-save effort that has become as ho-hum as a Florida heat wave.
On those rare nights when Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point and Steven Stamkos are kept in check, the Lightning keep proving they’re confident in their ability to rely on team defence and a goalie who rarely lets them down.
Coming 90 seconds away from a shutout, Vasilevskiy’s 31-save effort included two saves with his mask and plenty of help from his teammates, as well as his crossbar.
“Vasi is a world-class goalie, don’t get me wrong,” said Cooper of the Russian star, who has turned aside 68 of 70 shots to snag a 2-0 series lead heading home.
“When he’s in the zone I don’t know if there’s anybody better. It’s a luxury to have him back there, but I look at our team defence tonight. People will look at the shot clock and look and see the Lightning got outshot (32-15), but we look at the quality of shots and ask ‘can he see them?’ When we do break down he’s there for us. But it does makes you sit an inch taller on the bench when you’ve got him back there.”
The last goalie to earn four straight Vezina nominations was the NHL’s all-time win leader Martin Brodeur, which is incredible company to keep given Vasilevskiy is just 26 years old – an age when most goalies are just starting to get their NHL footing.
Imagine when he starts to hit his prime?
He’s the guy who easily could have won the Conn Smythe last year with a 1.90 GAA and .927 save percentage in the bubble.
As an encore he followed it up with a career-best 2.21 GAA and 31 wins to lead the league in that category for the fourth year in a row.
Yet, after another heroic performance, the post-game chatter revolved largely around game-winning goal scorer Anthony Cirelli and the monstrous game from Alex Killorn, who opened the evening’s scoring.
One game earlier when Vasilevskiy had 37 saves, he wasn’t even brought in for Zoom interrogation as Brayden Point, Victor Hedman and game star Barclay Goodrow stole the show.
That, quite simply, is how you win championships: every night it’s a different hero, while the absolute baseline is a goalie who always gives you a chance to win.
“To be honest I thought they (Carolina) were much better in front of me, but we did such a great job in the blue paint I feel like I can block every shot tonight,” said Vaslievskiy, who admitted the Hurricanes generated more traffic in front of him, which his teammates did well to steer out of his way.
“Just a great effort by our team. It was, I think, one of our best games so far in these playoffs.”
Vasilevskiy, who won top goalie honours in 2018-19, credited the team in front of him for his latest nomination.
It’s all part of a chicken or the egg discussion, but the bottom line is they all work together to be in what looks like an inevitable collision course with Colorado in the final.
Road Warriors … again
Steven Stamkos said winning the first two games of the series on the road – just as they had against the Florida Panthers in Round 1 – is “icing on the cake.”
They did it first against a feisty state rival, and then against the division-winning Canes, who sit top three in both special teams rankings.
Asked how his team has become so comfortable in tight games featuring hostile environments like the one 16,000 fans created at PNC Arena the first two games of this series, Cooper had a great explanation.
“We’ve been through them before and we’ve got a group that believes in how to play and what you need to do to shut a game down,” said the coach, whose club is now 32-1 when carrying a lead into the third period.
“There’s a plan in place, but the guys have to go out and execute it, and they work so damn hard and they sacrifice. Cerny (Erik Cernak) is missing teeth and Killer (Killorn) is missing teeth and guys are blocking shots and just sacrificing everything just for the good of the team.
And I think when you have that mentality and everybody puts the team first, good things and magical things can happen.”
Like winning a Cup, based on their re-jigged focus on playing tighter defensive hockey.
“But there’s been the trials and tribulations,” he added, alluding to the first-round exit two years ago for the Presidents’ Trophy winners.
“We’ve done it other ways as well and it hasn’t worked out. But when you find the recipe it’s well worth sticking to it and that’s what these guys have done.”
War of attrition
Killorn opened his post-game Zoom call by taking a swig of water using only the right side of his mouth, as the left side of his lip had just been zippered shut with a few stitches.
It was a result of an inadvertent high stick from Andrei Svechnikov on the same play in which Cirelli scored the game winner by converting a backhand past Alex Nedeljkovic midway through the second period to take a 2-0 lead.
“Luckily the goal happened on the play so I wasn’t complaining about anything,” shrugged Killorn, whose goal came seven minutes into the game to silence a crowd that had both teams pumped.
Vincent Trocheck hobbled off the ice late in the second period, favouring his right leg late after a skate-on-skate collision with teammate Warren Foegele. He tried coming back in the third period, but lasted 16 seconds on the ice before departing for the dressing room for good. It was a troubling development for a Canes team that will likely be without Nino Niederreiter for the series.
The Bolts played without injured defenceman David Savard for the second straight game and were relieved to have Cernak back after he left game one following an awkward hit.
Game 3 goes Thursday in Tampa.
