When a team wins frequently, there are permutations on how success is accomplished. In the case of last night’s 2-0 victory over Toronto, the Lightning’s depth and advantage at goaltending were on display.
The Maple Leafs present an intriguing matchup versus the Lightning. Both teams share the desire to push the pace and stretch their opponent out. The Maple Leafs are one of a couple teams in the NHL that can match the Lightning with forward skill and skating. And sticking to its strengths, Tampa Bay fought fire with fire. The Lightning defensemen were aggressive in their pinches and in activating; Tampa Bay forwards watched Toronto defensemen cede the blue line and tried to strike off its transition and cycle.
And that implacable opportunism paid off in the late second period, with the game at 1-0. After 30 seconds in the offensive zone and a nice scoring chance created by a Mikhail-Sergachev-to-Anton-Stralman interchange, Yanni Gourde picked up the rebound and tried to pass it back to the point, only to find that space was empty.
It had been a long shift, and Lightning forward Cory Conacher ambled toward the bench taking this as his cue to enter stage left. But Alex Killorn and Gourde, his two linemates, stayed on the ice, hoping they could catch the Maple Leafs in a counterattack off the long-distance line change they had to make.
Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy met the puck after the Gourde errant pass, fired it toward Killorn, who under pressure from Maple Leaf forward Tyler Bozak, tipped the puck forward. Gourde, who had crept out of the offensive zone after the turnover, collected the pass from Killorn just outside the neutral zone. Gourde brought the puck over the blue line for the entry, and then curled away from the middle. This U-turn protected the puck from pursuing Leafs forward Nazem Kadri, and allowed Gourde to find trailing teammate Sergachev for that second-wave transition attack. Suddenly, the Lightning possessed the puck in the bottom half of the zone and they had a four-to-three player advantage. Sergachev ducked behind the net as he evaded a lazy poke check by Roman Polak, and found a wide-open Killorn alone. Killorn buried the feed.
Hockey is a game of choices, and like most decisions, a good course of action could have turned out badly. Staying on the ice for over a minute rarely turns out well, but in this instance it was to exploit the Leafs’ line change and sloppy transition defense. While this outcome is being applauded, there were spells in last night’s game where the Lightning’s aggressiveness was turned against them. A pinching defenseman in the offensive zone would leave Stamkos playing defenseman, with nearly terrifying results. Lightning defenseman Jake Dotchin tried to take an aggressive angle on a puck and whiffed, and it allowed Maple Leafs forward Mitch Marner to seize a breakaway chance. The Lightning were caught multiple times with their defensemen stepping up in the neutral zone, and it left the bottom half of the ice exposed.
The most revealing insight from the game may have been the zero goals by Toronto. Any legitimate Cup team needs a margin for error, and Vasilevskiy is so good, he can stave off the mishaps. And that permits Tampa Bay to be bold carrying the puck and pursuing the puck. It allows the star forwards to have a night where they barely register a flicker. It buries the bad choices and paves the way for good ones. It creates a milieu where depth players can stay out far longer than advised to take advantage of a line change.