Dare I say it?
I probably shouldn’t say it, this isn’t going to go over well on Long Island.
Ah man I can’t help myself, I’m gonna say it.
The Tampa Bay Lightning — and not the Islanders themselves — remind me of my father’s New York Islanders teams.
That’s probably not what their current fans wanted to read. But they do.
They remind me of my Dad’s Islanders teams — at least from what I re-watched and read and heard about them — in that they could play it any way you wanted to play it.
They could hang in an all-skill duel, getting offence from Mike Bossy and Bryan Trottier and Dennis Potvin, and on and on and on. If you wanted to play it tough, obviously my father-in-law, Clark Gillies, had something to say about that. Bobby Nystrom probably did, too. They could defend, they got big game goaltending from Billy Smith, and they were adaptable.
It’s tough to look at these Bolts and not see that same thing when you look back to their heavy artillery sessions versus the Florida Panthers in the first round, compared to their “clinical” defensive performance in the final six minutes against the Islanders Thursday night. Whether it’s stand up boxing, grappling on the mat, or something in between, they’ve got answers.
One thing I do want to clarify: the Lightning’s overall Game 3 performance against the Islanders wasn’t some defensive masterpiece, not even close. At 5-on-5 (so, almost the whole game) they gave up more high danger chances than they had in any other post-season game this year, to go with the second-most total chances against. They gave up more shot attempts than in any game they’ve played in about a month.
What made Game 3 so impressive was how Tampa adapted defensively to an Islanders team that actually took it to them through the middle of the hockey game. Reminder: it wasn’t pretty for Tampa for a while:
The Isles registered 14 chances from inside the coveted house, only they didn’t do much with them and didn’t get any bounces. Andrei Vasilevskiy was just voted the best goaltender in the league in a poll of his peers, and he validated them all in Game 3.
One thing you may notice about those chances, though? Not many came off lateral passes above the goal line, by which I mean that while Vasilevskiy had to face shots from tough areas, they didn’t force him to move much, let alone offer deception. And with that, there weren’t many immediate follow-up chances, meaning generally Tampa was able to cool the onslaught before it boiled over into a goal. You’re going to play teams that are playing well in the post-season, as the Isles were in Game 3, but it’s a credit to the Lightning that sustained pressure from New York didn’t result in panic and the type of bigger gaffe that can result in goals against.
Tampa looks like a team that — weird — has been there, done that before.
The part about “being able to play it any way you want,” though, is a credit to not having a variety of one-dimensional players that exist in skill silos. The key is in having a bunch of individuals who can handle varied game styles and situations, and not having those abilities scattered throughout your roster player by player. This is a big misconception in hockey. The idea of “We need toughness, so go trade for a player who’s tough” seems to be the default solution, and while it may solve a single problem, it usually leaves you deficient elsewhere. Players in skill silos may help you in a certain type of series, but be useless to you in the next.
Those “tough” Islanders players I mentioned above, like say Clark Gillies? Yeah he was just shy of 700 career points. Bobby Nystrom had over 500. Some of the skill guys I mentioned, Trottier and Potvin? They had 912 and 1,356 PIMs respectively. Since it seems mandatory I mention him, my Dad was another guy who had around both 600 points and PIMs.
A lot was made of the Lightning’s decision to add Barclay Goodrow and Blake Coleman at high costs last season, but it’s why I believe Julien Brisebois is the runaway GM of the…past couple years, I guess. They’re yet two more versatile players who seem built for all-weather usefulness.
Yes they have an all-world D-man in Victor Hedman, and great goaltending, and a pure scorer in Nikita Kucherov. But the best players in the world don’t guarantee you anything. Edmonton has two of the best 10. Nathan MacKinnon is out, Sidney Crosby is out, Auston Matthews is out, too. It’s the ability to fill in around those stars that makes the difference, and the versatility I’m talking about is everywhere in this Bolts lineup.
Brayden Point will live in the dirty areas and thrive, as will Ondrej Palat and Alex Killorn. Their smaller guys like Yanni Gourde and Tyler Johnson are competitive as well. Anthony Cirelli belongs to the maybe-ugly-but-undeniably-effective-at-all-times Mark Stone School of Hockey. And the left side of their D does a brilliant job of mixing size with skill: Hedman, McDonagh, Sergachev.
Years ago Tampa felt like a team that could undeniably beat you 6-5. They had that reputation, and with it expectations went sky high (they do for all teams that can score), but they found themselves frustrated, unable to get over the hump.
Well, as we now know, they found their way over it. And even more than last season, this year they seem content battling it out when the scores are low and the games are hard, even if things haven’t gone perfectly earlier in the contest (a la Game 3).
This version of the Islanders seems perfectly built to test just how well-rounded skilled opponents really are. The blue and orange play a heavy game and force teams to go through them, which not many skilled teams are able — or willing? — to do. They force teams to push and push and push while they hold, which takes copious will.
It’s somewhat ironic then, that in Game 3, it took a version of the dynasty-era Islanders to beat this Islanders team. The Bolts put away their weapons for their shields when up a goal, and locked things up so tight the Islanders couldn’t get a sniff when it came time to mount the big push. They accepted it wasn’t going to be fun and played smart and tight until the last sands ran through the hourglass.
In a salary cap era it’s impossible to believe any team could have the staying power of the Islanders of yore, but watching Thursday night’s version of the Lightning was a reminder that they can win all styles of fights, and they’re the defending champs for a reason.
It might have been familiar to Isles fans, if they’d only let themselves admit it.
