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After settling for a split down at Amalie Arena to start the Stanley Cup Final, the Tampa Bay Lightning will look to return the favor at Chicago’s United Center starting with a Game Three victory over the Blackhawks tonight.
Through two games in the series, Tampa has to be generally happy with the way things have gone down. While it’s true that they handed home-ice advantage to the Blackhawks with their Game One loss, it’s also true that they’ve been solid, competitive, and assertive. There’s a reason the Lightning have led for more minutes in this series than the Hawks, and it’s not luck. The key for the Bolts, as they move to one of the most intense arenas in the league, will be to build on the good and eliminate (or minimize, at least) the bad.
One of the good things the Lightning have done to this point in the series is shut down Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane. I covered this topic at length yesterday (click here), and noted that Cedric Paquette’s emergence as a shutdown center has been quite shocking. It will be interesting to see whether the Lightning’s third line can continue to win the battle with some of the game’s brightest stars. My money would be on ‘no’, but I’m not a betting man.
Even if they aren’t getting contributions from Kane and Toews, however, the Blackhawks are still mighty dangerous. That much has been made very clear through two games in the series, as they have received offensive contributions from various other sources. Teuvo Teravainen, in particular, has been on a bit of a tear (pun intended). So, even if by some miracle the Bolts silence Kane and Toews for a third straight game, it’s not like the Blackhawks are incapable of scoring goals.
Further, it would appear as though Joel Quenneville is planning to adjust:
Sounds like #Blackhawks will split up Kane and Toews for Game 3
— Joe Smith (@TBTimes_JSmith) June 7, 2015Another wrinkle in the whole “shut down one of the league’s best offenses… plan is Tampa Bay’s goaltending situation. Ben Bishop left Game Two (twice) and did not return. Andrei Vasilevskiy made all five saves he needed to make to preserve the win, but there are still plenty of question marks. Head coach Jon Cooper wasn’t really in a talking mood at yesterday’s availability:
Cooper on Bishop: in honour of the 11-year anniversary of our franchise's first Stanley Cup, how would John Tortorella answer that question?
— Bruce Arthur (@bruce_arthur) June 7, 2015The bottom line is that nobody seems to know which goalie will play in this pivotal third game. There have been conflicting reports (read: speculation) about Bishop’s status, but the team has been fairly silent on the topic. We’ll probably know a few more details after the morning skate, but until then we really are in the dark on this subject. Should he be needed, though, it’s not like going to Vasilevskiy is a massive downgrade. The youngster’s resume speaks for itself, and includes a great run in last year’s KHL playoffs; he posted a 1.99 goals-against average in 18 games for his team. He was also very good for Tampa during this regular season.
Whether it’s Vasilevskiy or Bishop, six defensemen or seven defensemen, 11 forwards or 12 forwards, the fact remains that this is a huge game for Tampa Bay. Opening up the set of two games in Chicago with a win would put the pressure squarely on the Blackhawks’ shoulders. That has to be the goal for Cooper’s club. Based on what they showed in Tampa, there’s no reason to think that they can’t go out and grab a win. They have the ability; the question now is whether they can turn that ability into a concrete result against a topnotch opponent. The Blackhawks are probably thinking the exact same thing.
Unfortunately, I have another flight to catch this morning. I won’t be around to report on the happenings at the morning skate, so I’m going to rely on my regular posters to keep everyone updated in the comments section. I’m scheduled to be around again just prior to puck drop.
As always, thanks for reading.
Michael Stuart has been the Tampa Bay Lightning writer for HockeyBuzz since 2012. Visit his archive to read more or follow him on Twitter.