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Bruins' Top Line Pummels Lightning |
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What is lost when focusing on the score and the unrestrained veneration being heaped on the Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-David Pastrnak line is that goaltender Tuukka Rask played really well yesterday afternoon. Rask almost cost Boston the series against Toronto, but yesterday, he was one lost skate blade away from keeping Tampa Bay to one measly goal.
The Lightning nearly doubled the Bruins in 5v5 Scoring Chances, finishing with 31. That is more than the Sharks or Golden Knights accrued and they played nearly five periods. The Lightning dominated the Bruins in shot attempts and the Bruins obliterated the Bolts on the scoreboard. Tampa Bay needs to assume Rask’s play will continue to be as sharp as a diamond cutter, which means the route to winning is via low-scoring contests.
One means of achieving this is dedicating sufficient resources to stopping the Bergeron line, which is the beating heart of this squad. The experiment of deploying Brayden Point’s line against the Bruins’ unstoppable trio didn’t work; Point’s line went scoreless and allowed multiple goals against. It could have been worse, but Marchand had a goal called off due to a Pastrnak crosscheck that drew a penalty. The shutdown pair of Ryan McDonagh and Anton Stralman flamed out badly. McDonagh’s failed clearing attempt led to a goal by Marchand seconds later. (Johnson let Marchand slip to the backdoor and that was one of many gruesome defensive breakdowns.)
A solution is to utilize the Yanni Gourde-Anthony Cirelli-Alex Killorn line against the Bruins’ top line, and make it their sole prerogative to hold them scoreless. The Lightning control the matchup at home, and it seems wise to avoid having some of their very best offensive talent torpedoed by Bergeron and Co. With the Cirelli line, any offense manufactured will be found money. On defense, pair Victor Hedman and Anton Stralman together – they had a 56.79 Corsi together in the regular season – or Hedman and McDonagh. McDonagh can play the off side. But Hedman needs to be used to stop the Bruins’ top line.
I’m guessing coach Jon Cooper wants to keep Hedman away from the Bergeron line because it is taxing to stop dynamic players and will be deleterious to Hedman’s offensive contribution. But that is a luxury the Lightning could afford against the Devils, not the Bruins. Hedman has the speed and skill to do an effective job shutting down the top line, and he did not contribute any tangible offense in Game 1. Gourde and Cirelli have the acceleration to challenge the Bruins’ forwards on retrievals and in transition. The Lightning’s third line did a nice job on the forecheck in Game 1, and even if they do not completely silence Bergeron’s line, it will open up more opportunity for the Point line. For the Point line, the dual responsibility of being expected to produce offense and exert equal effort on defense in transition, and in their own zone, was too much.
The Lightning’s top two lines came away with zero goals. But as cited above, there were chances. Nikita Kucherov was the best forward for the Lightning, and Tampa Bay was smart about passing him the puck for the entry. Kucherov looked comfortable zipping around the offensive zone crushing shots at the net and setting up his teammates. J.T. Miller, who has been subject to some justifiable ire, also proved an influential playmaker. But what is becoming increasing uncomfortable is how diminished Stamkos is in his current form.
Stamkos’s ability to finish plays around the net has rapidly declined. This is the elephant in the room for this team. The name on the back of the jersey and reputation are not matching the play on the ice. The difficulty he had on the shot-pass from Stralman over what was about 40 feet of ice was alarming. In this series, Stamkos can’t really puck-handle at all because the Bruins are so quick at closing on puck-carriers. He was a good passer during the regular season, clearly, but his impact has waned in the playoffs. And Stamkos continues to struggle to get his shot through, if he connects at all.
Stamkos had a worthy attempt on a Kucherov feed with less than two minutes into the game, but with his play greatly reduced, his primary impact is in forechecking or springing turnovers in the neutral zone. Sometimes, he acts as an effective way station for Kucherov and Miller as they gain speed to attack. Stamkos has one goal this playoffs and it came on the power play. At what point is his presence with Kucherov and Miller squandering opportunity?
Hopefully, Cooper shakes up the lines, and puts Point or Johnson with Kucherov and Miller. The Lightning need a right-handed shot who can finish around the net playing with those two talents. The Point line found out early that the Bruins’ transition defense is too good for them to motor past. That means Point and Tyler Johnson will have to U-turn after gaining entry and find the trailer or create off the forecheck.
If Stamkos is a glorified energy player in these playoffs, maybe he plays the role of retriever on the second line. The stakes would be a little lower there than consistently flubbing opportunities served up by Kucherov and Miller. I don’t know if Cooper has the bravery to move Stamkos to the third line, but with how Gourde played in the first game, and how well Gourde finishes around the net and connects on one-timers, he might be a nice addition on one of the first two lines. Of course, that would remove Gourde from the third line intended to blanket the B’s scoring triumvirate, but Stamkos made some nice plays in his own end and narrowing his focus to a defensive checker might make the most sense. Unfortunately, Stamkos being moved to play with Killorn and Cirelli sounds highly implausible.
To the Lightning’s credit, they finally played with discipline in terms of staying out of the penalty box. It was thrilling to watch them display equanimity when baited. But the Bruins are awesome, and like a great team, they necessitate that opponents stretch the meaning of discipline. One could call it lack of discipline by Tampa Bay when its first power-play unit went for a line change – during the long change no less (!) – that led to an odd-man rush, and Rick Nash’s second goal.
One could say it was uncontrolled behavior when the Point line stayed on for over a minute of ice time, and the defense coverage was cleaved by the Bergeron line, pushing the Bruins out to a 4-2 lead in the third period. There was not an obvious opportunity to change, but that was also exacerbated by the Lightning’s breezy chasing of the puck-carrier and supine effort in retrieval in the defensive zone, which exposed the exhaustion of the Point line.
Against the Bruins, the margin for error is miniscule. I was encouraged by the puck movement on the power play, and staying out of the penalty box is commendable. Also, Kucherov was tremendous against a team that defends extremely well. The Lightning generated far more shot attempts because they were the faster team on retrievals for a lot of shifts. But the Lightning need to take away the Bruins’ greatest strength, and rejigger the first two lines. This series is winnable, but the Lightning need to face hard truths.
Tampa Bay Lightning Blogger • 
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