Writers have mused that the opposite of luck is destiny. I disagree. I see luck as a booster and partner to a predetermined outcome. Last night, it seemed fated that Anaheim backup goalie Ryan Miller was going to stuff the Lightning’s best efforts to score on him as he made several remarkable saves, allowing the Ducks to steal a 3-1 victory from the Lightning. But it was actually the Lightning’s inability to capitalize when the calls and pucks did go their way that made their defeat seem kismet.
The Ducks were able to impose a physical game against the Bolts, and when the puck was in proximity of the boards, they tried to rough up the Lightning puck-carrier. Brayden Point, especially, seemed to have a target on his back as he was the recipient of several brutal bodychecks. While Point was undeterred, the team was affected. Point generated a breakaway and scored a goal. He led the team in Scoring Chances at 5v5. The Point-Nikita Kucherov line was a constant threat, and the wheel route that Point ran on the Kucherov-to-Point goal was almost unstoppable. But the other Lightning forwards and defensemen were spooked and incapacitated by the Ducks’ physicality quotient. And this had ripple effects because the Ducks were able to get inside position against the Lightning for pucks in scoring areas.
In the defensive zone, with the game 0-0 at the eight-minute mark of the second period, Mikhail Sergachev coughed up the puck in his own end when he tried to elude a Nick Ritchie bodycheck. Yanni Gourde let Adam Henrique get in front to snatch the loose puck, but it was Ryan Callahan’s languorous pose above the right dot that felled the Lightning. This even though, unlike Steven Stamkos and Gourde, who were finishing a long shift, it was Callahan who had the fresh legs! He had just jumped on the ice. Yet he let Josh Manson stroll past him and grab the loose puck in front of the net for the finish. That mental lapse is ill-advised considering coach Jon Cooper has a magnifying glass on the bottom-six forwards for when he will need to rejigger his lineup once Ondrej Palat comes back.
For the game-winning goal, it was Kucherov who stopped skating and hooked Rickard Rakell, drawing a penalty. And while the shot attempt from Marcus Pettersson led to a funky bounce, Erik Cernak failed to box out Nick Ritchie from the area around the paint. Less than a minute later, the Lightning were again hemmed in their own zone and slow to react. The puck from the point was blocked and caught in the skates of Sergachev, whose blasé response, a “Where’d it go?… spin, allowed Carter Rowney to seize the loose puck and deposit it in the back of the net.
Television Color Analyst Brian Engblom mused that, if the Lightning sustained their characteristic pace against Anaheim, eventually the Ducks would sink. But the Ducks were able to stave off the odd-man rushes with their goaltender playing over his head and with timely shot-blocks. Against every line other than Point’s, the Ducks were able to stay in front of the action, or at least mitigate the second-chance opportunities. It was the Lightning who wilted against the Ducks’ sandpaper playing style. Anaheim was able to win battles for the puck in the low slot.
Ultimately, Anaheim got much better goaltending, and their physicality forced turnovers and allowed them to collect follow-up scoring chances after initial shot attempts. And the Lightning were unable to overwhelm the Ducks with their speed.