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Vasilevskiy Shields Bolts' Sloppy Play

March 21, 2019, 8:45 AM ET [23 Comments]
Sam Hitchcock
Tampa Bay Lightning Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
In some respects, the Lightning deserved to lose. No doubt, the Capitals’ shot total was boosted by their six power-play opportunities, but Andre Vasilevskiy was forced to make a career-high 54 saves. And yet, the Lightning entered the final minute of regulation play with a one-goal lead, and Victor Hedman’s individual effort in overtime carried them to a 5-4 victory. If it weren’t for Tampa Bay’s one-hundred-percent conversion rate on its three power plays, and Vasilevskiy’s surreal performance, the Lightning would have been doomed.

Andre Vasilevskiy
The Lightning possess a bit of a born-on-third-base syndrome with Vasilevskiy. So what does that mean in hockey terms? It translates to a permission for reckless puck management, like Alex Killorn’s ridiculous behind-the-back pass to Erik Cernak leaving Tampa Bay’s zone that led to the Lars Eller goal. On the Carl Hagelin goal, Killorn carried the puck out of the neutral zone into his own zone, and attempted to find a passing recipient (presumably Braydon Coburn) on the weak side. Instead, it led to a loose puck on the boards that Eller scooped up and shuttled to Hagelin on the backdoor.

The subtext is obvious. The Lightning DNA is coded toward more risk-taking because Vasilevskiy is the $500 million sitting in their trust fund. That same brash attitude is evident in their insouciance toward playing down a man.

Tampa Bay leads the NHL in minor penalties, so the six power-play chances they provided the Capitals last night were true to form. They also know that, between their vastly improved penalty kill and Vasilevskiy, they should be able to stave off the pressure. On the power play, the Capitals had 25 shot attempts, 17 Scoring Chances, and 16 recorded shots. Vasilevskiy’s ability to vacuum up heavy shots and not surrender a rebound—combined with his remarkable flexibility, athleticism, and huge frame, which takes away the bottom half of the net when there is a rebound—mean the opponent better take away the goalie’s eyes with tons of traffic or get it upstairs in a hurry.

The slashing penalties where the opponent drops the stick are suspect, a byproduct of an NHL that shows zero tolerance for punishment against an opponent's hands. But there are penalties that elicit an eye roll. The Steven Stamkos penalty on Jakub Vrana in the defensive zone demonstrated little discomfort for putting his team on the penalty kill. And seemingly every time Cedric Paquette gets in a scrum and the Lightning trade fists with the opponent, Tampa Bay comes away down a man.

Coach Jon Cooper seems to think the toughness trade-off is worth it, but maybe the Bolts should dial it down in the postseason, especially against a foe like Washington. But this is life with Vasilevskiy in net. You take risky bets, never turn the other cheek, and come out victorious. Flippancy aside, how the Lightning proceed with the right dosage of indirect and direct passing to exit their own zone on breakouts is a huge consideration against contenders like Washington that can hammer the Lightning for either choice.

Line Jumble
Maybe it was the Nicklas Backstrom to Alexander Ovechkin connection on the odd-man rush, which necessitated another Vasilevskiy save. Or perhaps it was the subsequent penalty by Point against Vrana. But following the Capitals’ power play, Cooper shortened the bench for the last seven minutes and 42 seconds of the game. Mathieu Joseph, Adam Erne, and Paquette would not play another second.

One thing is clear as we charge toward the playoffs: Cooper wants to use Anthony Cirelli as much as possible. He was on the ice for the defensive draw with a minute and forty seconds left and the Capitals’ goalie pulled. Given his penalty-killing prowess, that is not all that surprising. But Cirelli has also been seeing sporadic faceoff time as the center with the big boys like Kucherov and Brayden Point, and in other games, Stamkos.

While Cirelli operates in a different talent tier, one can see the rationale from Cooper. Cirelli has a faceoff-win percentage of 52.9 and, when he wins the draw, the Lightning have two wingers ready to run a designed play that sets them up for a shot. He is a hawk without the puck, swooping in at the perfect angle to disrupt the opposing puck-carrier and snatch away possession. And he continues to show he can make plays in high-traffic areas, from his ability to deflect shots to his pass to Hedman against the Coyotes. His speed and two-way skill set have bumped him into the top-two forward pairings on the 3-on-3.

When Cooper truncated the bench, Cirelli played two shifts with J.T Miller and Killorn. That moved Yanni Gourde off of the fourth line onto the Stamkos and Ondrej Palat line. Surely when the games start mattering again, those are the nine Cooper is going to lean on. What the postseason defensive group will look like remains a mystery, but whoever grabs the third pair can be confident that Vasilevskiy will rescue them from poor puck management and heedless penalties.
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