The 4-1 score is misleading. Tampa Bay dramatically outplayed Nashville last night, especially in the second and third periods. The Predators won because goalie Pekka Rinne stole the game. And while Nashville should be given credit for earning two points, the Lightning forced a very good team to ward off an unrelenting attack.

The Predators posted two quick goals in the first frame, the first due to an awesome deflection and the other to an incredible pass and defensive lapse by the Lightning. But the shot attempts were close at 19 for the Lightning and 20 for the Predators. That would change abruptly in the second and third periods as the Lightning finished the game with 60 shot attempts at 5v5 compared to the Predators’ 39. In fact, the Lightning accrued 39 Scoring Chances at 5v5, the highest of any of the 13 NHL games played last night.

The Lightning calculus for how to defeat the Predators was smart. Tampa Bay decided to ratchet up the aggression from their defensemen with Ryan McDonagh, Anton Stralman, and Mihail Sergachev leading entries and joining the rush. Braydon Coburn pinched at every opportunity. And the Lightning’s entire defensive group stepped up at the blue line and in the neutral zone, which forced turnovers in the middle and defanged the Predators’ forecheck. Especially after the first period, there were stretches where Nashville struggled to sustain any offensive zone time.

What also was striking about last night was how well the Lightning supported the puck. The Predators’ defensemen are great skaters and their forwards offer a full-throated back-checking presence. Therefore, the best way to exploit them was by creating two-on-ones in little pockets of space on the ice, and by forcing the Predators’ off-the-puck players to stick-check the Lightning’s cutters.

Furthermore, the Lightning understood that, since the Predators defend so well in the bottom half of the offensive zone, their best chances would be shooting and either hoping for a deflection, or trying to score off the rebound instead of forcing east-west passes.

The best threesome last night was the Brayden Point, Tyler Johnson, Yanni Gourde line, and in their best chances they personified the desired ethos. In the first period, at the 16-minute mark, Johnson had a 2-on-2, and after crossing the blue line, he pulled up from well above the top of the circle and fired the puck to a cutting McDonagh. The puck was saved, but it squirted out to the weak side and Point almost whacked the puck in as the trailer. The rebound attempt was defused by great stick work from Nashville’s Kevin Fiala in transition defense. If Fiala had been a second late, that would have been a goal. The play was spurred by Johnson’s delay on the entry and recognition that shooting into traffic would open the door to a possible deflection or rebound goal.

With 6:50 left in the third period, and the score 2-1 Predators, McDonagh led an entry and found Yanni Gourde hiding along the boards just inside the blue line, unmarked. Gourde received the puck and immediately slung it into the feet of the surging Point in the slot, who gracefully transitioned the puck from skate to stick and smacked a shot on goal. The shot by Point met resistance by Filip Forsberg, but he shot the puck into McDonagh who was diving into the crease for a rebound. The attempt and follow-up nearly produced a goal, but Rinne was strong in the crease.

Perhaps the best save of the game for Rinne came with 8 minutes and 25 seconds left in the third. McDonagh stepped a few feet to the right to find the shooting angle and hurled a chest-high shot down the center. In the slot, Point made a perfect deflection on the oncoming rubber, but Rinne made an outstanding pad-save as the puck dropped like a stone.

The origin of the Point deflection opportunity was notable even if it was subtle. When Johnson was in the corner, after he had worked a give-and-go with Gourde, he almost lost possession facing a double-team, but Point came over the top, batted the puck down low, and Gourde scooped it up and moved the puck to McDonagh at the blue line. Johnson had guardrails in that Point provided cushion as the F3 and Gourde, underneath as the F1, secured possession for the Lightning. The ability to bunch up in a corner and soak up possession while unfurling across the slot to deflect and hammer at rebounds is a testament to the Point line’s anticipation and quickness. Even against a formidable contender, this was jumping off the TV screen.

When the Lightning are facing a team defense as good as the Predators’, the best move is to offer a four-man assault by the forwards and a pinching defenseman on the transition and cycle. Forget the east-west passes, shoot from bad angles and into traffic, and hope for a juicy rebound or a gravity-defying deflection. Even in a loss, the Lightning should take comfort knowing they can command and influence games against Cup contenders to this degree. It was jarring to see the Predators look helpless, although I’m sure they took solace from winning.

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