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Tampa Bay's Defense Catalyzes Comeback

November 5, 2018, 10:34 AM ET [6 Comments]
Sam Hitchcock
Tampa Bay Lightning Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The Lightning are like students who procrastinate because the material is not difficult enough and they want to create a challenge for themselves. Certainly that was the case last night as the Lightning again fell behind, this time 2-0, before rallying to win 4-3 in overtime against the Ottawa Senators. And while the late-game heroics were thrilling, the game also engendered a higher level of respect for the Lightning defense. It also made me think about how narrowly we define “supplemental scoring.”

When supplemental scoring is discussed, it’s often framed in terms of non-core forward players adding goals. Sometimes that is Cedric Paquette stuffing in a rebound on the goal line. Or it might be a defenseman like Braydon Coburn chipping in offense that bolsters the scoring contribution for the stars. But perhaps we are viewing scoring through too narrow a lens. If defensemen are buoying the forwards, that should be viewed as a form of ancillary offense, and it is exactly what is happening with Tampa Bay.

The Lightning are experiencing long stretches of four-line dominance because their defensemen are reinforcing the forwards to a striking degree. They are aggressively leading the transition on breakouts, attacking off the puck on rush chances, and engaging by interchanging with their forwards. Sometimes, their presence is subtle, but the effect is pronounced, especially for a line like Nikita Kucherov’s, which needs that lift.

With under four minutes left in the third period, shortly after Brayden Point took a puck to the face, J.T. Miller took a faceoff in the offensive zone. The Lightning would win the draw, and Kucherov, lined up on the right hash mark, would backpedal toward the far boards. The puck went from Ryan McDonagh to Anton Stralman, and an exchange was about to take place. Stralman passed it to Kucherov along the wall, and ran a pick on Mikkel Boedker, which rubbed out the Senators forward and allowed Kucherov to curl over the top and fire the puck into Miller as the screen. (Steven Stamkos and Stralman were both approaching the net from opposite sides at a 45-degree angle hoping for a rebound.)

That is a nice set play, and most importantly, it plays to the strength of the line. Kucherov fired a wrist shot in space. Miller was a net front presence, and Stamkos attacked off the puck. But Stralman freed up Kucherov.

Another example came with 15 minutes left in the third. Miller sunk low in the defensive zone and helped transport the puck off the goal line. But it was Coburn who jumped up in the play, and when Miller was running out of room due to Bobby Ryan’s back pressure, Coburn had room on the transition to receive the puck and facilitate. When Miller moved it to Coburn, he found Stamkos shooting up the middle. Stamkos failed to bury the breakaway, but it was Coburn’s activation that enabled the scoring chance for Stamkos.

While neither of those plays resulted in goals, the defensemen did factor on every single regulation-time goal. On the first, it was McDonagh as the trailer on the rush who shoveled the pass into the crease. On the Mathieu Joseph goal, Stralman, playing pragmatically, stepped up when the Senators tried to carry the puck out of the zone, and forced the turnover and mini two-on-zero for Anthony Cirelli and Joseph.

Finally, with 35 seconds left, it was Kucherov hammering a one-timer that was blocked that enabled the most significant play involving a defenseman all game. The puck stumbled toward the board after the blocked shot, and Ottawa’s Mark Borowiecki had a clear path to swat the puck out of the zone. But McDonagh made an unbelievable, disarming stick check, and thrust the puck backward to Tyler Johnson, who found Point below the circle for the game-tying goal.

In overtime, when Point drove to the outside and attacked the net, producing a rebound that Yanni Gourde swept in to win the game, that was categorical brilliance. But the Lightning are not exiting the zone as swiftly, nor exerting suffocating pressure in the offensive zone, without their defensemen enhancing their forwards. Without Victor Hedman, this might go unnoticed, but the offense is a byproduct of the defense.
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