Follow JJ on Twitter @jaeckel!
I learned a few things about the Tampa Bay Lightning last night.
One is they can really dial up the pressure in the first period of a game in their building and get an early goal, maybe more if Corey Crawford isn't on top of his game. And they can likely do it in the Hawks' building as well.
But so could at least two of the three other teams the Hawks have vanquished this postseason.
The second is they defend very well in space, especially when Viktor Hedman is on the ice, who sort of reminds me of Drago from Rocky IV: huge, actually Swedish, and like just a giant hockey playing cyborg, programmed to relentlessly defend and stop everything. Guy is amazing.
I also learned that they are not so great otherwise in their end, and are very vulnerable to the cycle.
Ben Bishop is beatable.
I'm not here to litigate what this game means with Tampa fans, but some of the reaction I've read this morning is kind of funny. You play a certain style on your way to a stellar record when you establish a lead in games, and then when it doesn't work, the excuse is you were bad, you made a huge mistake. The other team got LUCKY.
The Lightning stacked the blueline for much of the third period, as they've done against many other teams when they've protected leads in games, and the Hawks solved it. They chipped pucks deep, established their cycle and dominated for two reasons: they're very good at that and Joel Quenneville found a way to get his top guys out when Hedman wasn't on the ice.
The other thing being overlooked in the post-game spin is that one goalie gave up two goals, and the other gave up one. Corey Crawford was outstanding last night, Ben Bishop was beatable.
You want to talk about luck, how about the pirouette/baseball swing that Alex Killorn scored on. Because other than that, Crawford was dialed in, aggressive, well-positioned and tracking pucks as well as he ever has.
For much of the game and especially on the power play, it appeared to me the Hawks were off. They were adjusting to the Lightning's speed. But as the game wore on, while some want to say it was merely the Lightning allowing the Hawks back in, the Hawks seemed to adjust to the pace.
The Lightning dominated in shots and faceoffs in the first period, but the Hawks, by the end of the game, and really starting late in the first, had evened out those two metrics. Part of that was an adjustment to the Lighting and their pace, part of it was Quenneville making adjustments in game.
Going forward, the Hawks have seen the Lightning's strengths in dialing up the pace and pressure, their ability to defend in space, the problems posed by Hedman. But they've also seen where the Lighting are weak: their lower lines, susceptible to the cycle.
The NBC analysts were probably right. Tampa can say they have to maintain their first period pace for an entire game, but that might be physically impossible. In hockey, it usually is. Further, they caught the Hawks somewhat off-guard, as Anaheim did at times in the WCF, and Nashville before them. But the Hawks are a very dangerous team to have your defensemen pinching down behind the goal line on.
Some other good news for the Hawks: Kris Versteeg played last night like he intends to stay in the lineup—the Hawks' best forward much of the night.
Teuvo Teravainen had a bad first half of the game, too timid, too cute. But he brought it in the third, just focusing on simple, tenacious hockey plays and a really smart, intentional (he's done that before) lob of a shot that was the tying goal and reallly where the game turned.
And Crawford won that game for the Blackhawks. Luck? No, he was the best player on the ice for either team.
I'll have more tomorrow.