The Lightning can afford to be hypocrites. They demand precise puck management from their opponents, but do not feel compelled to hold themselves to those same standards. Despite sloppy defense from the Lightning’s skaters that helped erase a 5-2 lead, Tampa Bay escaped with another 6-5 overtime victory. The fact of the matter is that, when you play the Lightning, there are laws an opponent must abide by to survive. The Flyers failed to follow the rules and were penalized with a loss.
Do not stumble into the offensive zone without clear possession if you are not ready to play vigorous and attentive transition defense On the Nikita Kucherov goal, Dan Giardi went back in his own end to retrieve the puck and slung an indirect pass to Victor Hedman. The pass was initially intercepted by Flyers forward James van Riemsdyk, but Hedman managed to steal the puck back and connect with Brayden Point on a breakout pass. This led to a three-on-two counterattack for the Lightning’s most dangerous line, with Kucherov fanning out to the right circle for a rocket on his one-timer.
Watching the play closely, one notices that Claude Giroux attempts to direct Dale Weise toward Kucherov, but ostensibly Weise does not hear him and continues on his path toward Tyler Johnson. Even if there was a communication breakdown between Giroux and Weise, Weise was in position to disrupt the pass from Johnson—he just failed to make the play. It is odd that Giroux does not attempt another audible once Weise continues on his trajectory. Instead, Giroux continues his route toward the puck-carrier, rather than rush toward Kucherov, who is clearly the most dangerous player in the transition. The point is, against the Lightning’s most dangerous line on the rush, it is best to not be left scrambling in transition defense.
Do not chip the puck out of the defensive zone despite overloading along the boards With the score 2-2 and eight minutes and change left in the second period, the Flyers committed a turnover at the top of the circle that resulted in a four-on-three, odd-man rush led by Mikhail Sergachev. Thanks to a great shot-block by Shayne Gostisbehere, Ondrej Palat’s attempt in the slot was denied.
The puck scurried to the corner and was moved up the boards where Braydon Coburn made an effort to pinch and keep the puck in the Lightning’s offensive zone. Coburn received support from Palat. But this is where the Flyers erred. Three Philadelphia skaters overloaded on the puck, and Flyers forward Nolan Patrick came away with possession. Patrick now had the opportunity to exit the zone and quash the offensive-zone pressure. But he decided to chip the puck forward to Sergachev in the neutral zone, who immediately fired the puck diagonally to Steven Stamkos, and the Lightning were back on the attack against a very tired Flyers unit. Twelve seconds later, the Flyers would be scooping a Stamkos missile out of their net.
Do not commit a careless delay-of-game penalty Andrew MacDonald panicked and, when the puck bounced into his stomach, he felt the pressure of Hedman and Adam Erne and whacked the puck into the stands. But context matters. This was against the Lightning’s third-line forwards (Anthony Cirelli and Alex Killorn) and a fourth liner (Erne). These players are capable of stripping MacDonald and scoring, but a more composed reaction to being under pressure from forwards not named Kucherov, Stamkos, and Point is a requisite of good puck management.
Do not cough up the puck on the breakout pass & do not commit a turnover in the neutral zone on a three-on-three Since these errors led to the fifth and sixth goals, it makes sense to lump these two together. On the Johnson goal, Radko Gudas was under pressure from both Johnson and Point, so he was eager to fire the puck off the boards as quickly as possible. I put this error on Michael Raffl, who failed to catch the pass, and also, by whiffing on the play, allowed Kucherov to snatch the errant pass. From Raffl’s perspective, even if the puck handcuffs you on your backhand, which it seemed to do, you should have an awareness of your surroundings and that the NHL’s leading scorer is behind you. It did not have to be a clean reception. Even tipping the puck so it leaves the zone is a better option than letting Kucherov come away with the puck cleanly. The offensive-zone time that resulted from the turnover led to the Flyers committing a penalty on Point, and Johnson would score on the delayed penalty.
But wait, isn’t an indirect exit the precise mistake that Patrick made on the Stamkos even-strength goal described earlier? Not quite. This instance had less to do with the method of transferring the puck out of the zone than it did with squandering an opportunity. The Flyers had numbers and the puck. They did not have to surrender the puck immediately upon gaining possession.
On the game-winning goal, Cirelli filched the puck from Giroux, who clearly underestimated his opponents. Giroux is a confident player and Cirelli took advantage of his patience. Puck management haunted the Flyers all game, and it was a fitting conclusion that a turnover in the neutral zone led to a counterattack strike for the Tampa Bay win.
One interesting note is that the Point line got torched in this game, allowing four of the five Philadelphia goals. On the Raffl goal, Johnson did a poor job eliminating the shooting lane on Travis Sanheim and Mikhail Sergachev offered an indifferent job stick-checking Raffl. On the second and third Flyers goals, it was turnovers and lazy defense. When the Flyers tied the game at two, Johnson missed Point on a pass to exit the zone, and the Lightning offered one of the worst efforts to contain a rushing puck-carrier that I have seen from any team this season, as Giroux went one-on-four and scored. On the Weise goal that started the Philadelphia comeback, Johnson missed Kucherov with a pass into the middle, and after Point failed to win the puck from Weise, the Lightning forwards stopped skating. The Robert Hagg goal evidenced poor gap control on an entry carried over the blue line at a snail’s pace, and a bad closeout by Johnson. Same for Stamkos on the Ivan Provorov goal.
The lesson of last night is that the rules don’t apply to everyone. The Lightning can demonstrate inconsistent interest in defense and commit turnovers in dangerous parts of the ice, and still score enough to win. That formula may work in the regular season, but it certainly won’t in the playoffs.