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Game 2 2015 Stanley Cup Finals Chicago Blackhawks at Tampa bay Lightning 7:15PM Eastern/6:15 Central NBC/CBC/TVA
THE BUZZ
Joel Quenneville has garnered a fair share of media attention on potential roster moves he might make over the last couple of days—only to go with what appears will be the same lineup he used in game 1 again tonight.
It's fair to say Q not only wants to work the matchups to his advantage but to keep his counterpart, Lightining head coach Jon Cooper, guessing as well.
Will it work?
Well, Q will likely "start" the game with the same lines and pairings tonight. But literally, once the puck is drawn and possession is established, the games will begin. Just as we saw in games 6-7 of the WCF, where Q was constantly mixing and changing lines to get his desired matchups.
And it worked then.
Different opponent, different series now. So we'll see.
The point is, I would bet we'll see Patrick Kane playing both with and separate from Jonathan Toews tonight in order for Q to expose Tampa's lower lines and pairings.
Cooper was quoted in the last 24 hours saying the Bolts intend to maintain their first period/game 1 pace over the course of the entire game tonight. That should be interesting to see. Maybe they can. But Chicago is certainly more prepared for that kind of effort and intensity this time.
Some of it was tactical too, with Tampa defensemen pinching very low and staying there—the same dynamic that got Anaheim in a lot of trouble at the end of the WCF.
When Chicago was prepared for it.
My guess is, again, the Bolts will come out flying and putting on all kinds of pressure. It's the kind of full-on assault that not just Anaheim, but Nashville, also worked on the Hawks, with varying degrees of success. Corey Crawford will need to be as good, or nearly, as he was in game 1 to keep the game close.
I also believe Tampa will have to slow down at some point. I saw the ECF and while it was played at a fast tempo, it was not entirely or even mostly at the pace of the first period of game 1. All the puffery and jingoism aside, that kind of pace is hard for even the most well-conditioned players to maintain for a full game, much less a full 20 minutes.
It's just funny how the narratives of a series will evolve, fueled both by media needing a storyline and teams and coaches reassuring themselves and their fans. In the WCF, it was: "the Ducks physical pressure will overhwhelm Chicago." And that just . . . didn't happen.
Drowned out by the "Chicago got lucky/Tampa let them back in" narrative is the fairly obvious evidence that the Hawks found their legs at some point toward the end of the first period and the game was a lot closer as it went on from there.
Did Tampa just stop trying in the faceoff dot as well? Because after a huge advantage in the first period for the Bolts, that evened out as the game went on.
That theory also presupposes that Tampa can completely control the pace at their volition—they therefore don't need to have any awareness or respect for Chicago's speed or scoring potental. OK. I give Cooper and the Tampa players more credit than that.
Conversely, Chicago fans (and the media and bloggers like me) need to be aware that the Hawks benefited from a great game for Crawford, and a pretty solid outing by David Rundblad in limited minutes. Either can play worse. And if they do, it could easly tilt game 2 to Tampa. And all else being equal, you have to like Tampa's chances, down a game, in their building.
I'll have a recap tomorrow,
JJ