It is well documented that there are really fun things in life that are not good for you. Saturday’s 7-6 victory was like an all-night candy binge: mirthful, exhilarating, and giddy, followed by pangs of apprehension. Steven Stamkos registered a career-high five points, and Victor Hedman and Dan Girardi combined for three goals. The offense was explosive and freewheeling. The Flyers ran roughshod over the Lightning’s defense, and goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy made a few huge saves to keep the score from climbing even higher. But Stamkos deserves his own examination because he fueled the win and is the most intriguing player on the Lightning as playoff time nears.
I remarked in a recent piece that, while Stamkos is still an influential scorer, he is a limited player who needs to be flanked by the right teammates to capitalize on his virtues. Last night, Nikita Kucherov and Alex Killorn both supported Stamkos in important ways.
On Stamkos’s second goal, Stamkos and Kucherov were caught deep in the offensive zone and the Flyers pushed in transition. Killorn’s terrific backcheck dismantled the rush chance, and it led Killorn to the corner. From just above the goal line, Killorn retrieved the puck and whipped a stretch pass to Kucherov in the neutral zone. Kucherov then guided the puck into the offensive zone before serving up a one-timer for Stamkos. Stamkos’s teammates disassembled the opponents’ attack, and then advanced the puck to Stamkos to shoot in space from his nook along the left circle. That is noteworthy facilitation, and Stamkos has the cannon to fire that into the net. (Kucheov also made a slick play on a power-play entry, and that led to Stamkos’s first goal off the Hedman pass.)
I also noted previously that Stamkos is unable to generate the separation necessary for the second-wave to be effective on the rush. On the Lightning’s sixth goal, Stamkos, positioned as the F3, scooped up the turnover on the Flyers’ pass through the middle, challenged Flyers defenseman Andrew MacDonald enough to push MacDonald back, and slipped the puck to Hedman, who blasted the puck past Petr Mrazek.
While the Lightning struggled to create off the rush in this game and were conversely scorched by the Flyers in transition, Tampa Bay was impactful at creating turnovers on the forecheck. This was an instance where the Lightning utilized their defensemen as the second-wave threat even though it was not a rush chance. So even if Stamkos is not a consistent danger to push the defense back on a rush, he can do it off of turnovers on the forecheck. Tampa Bay’s high-low harmony in this game aroused a conniption for the Flyers, and the Lightning’s defensemen were aggressive at seizing space and hammering shots toward the goal. (Hedman and Girardi scored the goals, but Mikhail Sergachev has been using his sneaky first step and reach to blow past opponents lately.)
With six minutes left in the third period, the line of Stamkos, Kucherov, and Killorn forced turnovers and won races to the puck, and the trio applied pressure in the attacking zone for over a minute. Stamkos was integral in the cycle, sliding into space for one-timers, retrieving the puck and sealing off passing lanes, and funneling the puck to the Lightning defensemen.
There is an important hockey lesson to be learned here. It is important not to conflate someone’s limitations with his impact. Pliancy is not the deciding factor in efficacy. Stamkos’s success can be contingent on his linemates, opportunities on the power play, and eager playmakers and puck-transporters – and, by the way, there is a rolodex list of Hall of Famers who that could be said of – but if his needs are nurtured he can be more decisive than anyone else on the ice. Well-rounded does not always equate to most influential. In a sport like hockey, where collecting three goals is often enough to win, the guy who can score is the trump card.
Boy, there was a lot of sloppiness by Tampa Bay at curtailing the Flyers’ offensive flow. The Flyers’ forwards were able to leech onto the Lightning defensemen and pick off their passes. Gap control, like on the Robert Hagg goal, amounted to Victor Hedman allowing a shot to be uncorked from the middle slot in stride, and the forward presence at sabotaging that rush was nonexistent. The Braydon Coburn turnover aroused excitement for Ryan McDonagh’s debut. Brayden Point failed to disrupt Claude Giroux on the game-tying marker. And there was the complete coverage collapse on the Jori Lehtera prayer he heaved toward the net.
There was so much icky to slough off, from capitulation in the neutral zone to the unsuccessful breakout-and-subsequent defensive coverage, to transition defense, that the Lightning will have a low bar for improvement come Florida on Tuesday. Fortunately, the offense is a supernova of power and consequence, and their scoring overcame the shortcomings.