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Bolts Vanquish Avs in OT, Streak at Eleven

February 18, 2020, 2:05 PM ET [9 Comments]
Sam Hitchcock
Tampa Bay Lightning Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Eleven straight wins. Against the Colorado Avalanche, arguably the best team in the Western Conference, the Lightning trailed 1-0 early and later surrendered a 3-1 lead. Yet the Bolts prevailed last night, managing to eke out the win in overtime.

The consistency of this Bolts team is astonishing. Watching them on a daily basis, you keep waiting for the drop off. But here they are, posting a 2.38 expected goals for against a very formidable team. The Lightning conceded some prime scoring chances to the Avs, but still finished with 11 high-danger chances to the Avs’ eight. I’ve jotted down two things I liked.

The Bolts’ transition
The Avs’ hallmark is their rush. Nathan MacKinnon, Gabriel Landeskog, Cale Makar, and Mikko Rantanen are all dynamic with the puck in space, so how Tampa Bay responded to that challenge was going to be something to watch. What impressed me was how efficiently the Lightning stripped the puck and attacked.

On the Alex Killorn goal, Erik Johnson escaped Nikita Kucherov’s pursuit behind the net and carried the puck with speed into the neutral zone. But Johnson’s plan to split Brayden Point and Ondrej Palat on the offensive-zone entry proved foolhardy. The puck was stolen, and Palat quickly moved the puck to Killorn. Killorn deliberately carried it into the offensive zone, bought his teammates time to set up, and swept the puck below the goal line to Palat.



From there, the Lightning flooded the right side, with Victor Hedman perched just above the crease. Palat held the puck in the off-slot, recognizing that Andre Burakovsky was puck-watching and vulnerable to be exploited on the weak side cut. Then Palat slipped a pass through the seam and Killorn tapped it into the empty net.

A defensive breakdown this bungled is unusual, but the Lightning also forced Colorado into it. The Lightning choked off the entry, initiated the cycle, activated their best offensive defenseman to pinch in the low slot without getting burned, and empowered one of their wingers to set up from the off-wing because Palat quickly jumped in to support Anthony Cirelli.

On the Steven Stamkos goal, the sequence started behind the Bolts’ goal line with Mikhail Sergachev stalling Burakovsky’s momentum, after which Kevin Shattenkirk won the race to the puck against Pierre-Edouard Bellemare. The Avs’ forecheck was squelched and Tampa Bay’s breakout was commencing.



With Makar stationed at the top of the circle and three forwards caught deep, Shattenkirk was able to zip a pass to Stamkos through the middle to spark a two-on-one. But instead of splitting out wide, Stamkos trailed Point, and Point dragged the puck around Nikita Zadorov and spat it into the pads of Pavel Francouz. Credit to Stamkos for idling around the net and converting on the loose puck, seizing on a poor close out effort by Zadorov.

Again, the Bolts started the sequence without the puck, but quickly snatched possession so they could push the puck into the offensive zone and prey on the Avs’ wobbly defensive coverage.

An unusual second line
Before this season, the highest goal total for any forward on the Palat-Cirelli-Killorn line was 23, and that was by Palat in 2013-14. Killorn has tied that goal total this season, but nevertheless, this line does not ooze danger the way other contenders’ second lines do. For example, there is no John Tavares or Evgeni Malkin presence at center. Heck, the Capitals have Evgeny Kuznetsov or Nicklas Backstrom as their second line center option to play with T.J. Oshie or Jakub Vrana. For those who aren’t regular viewers of the Lightning, all of this is to say that the traditional firepower doesn’t appear to be there. But this line clicks because all three forwards are so good with their sticks.

Yesterday, the Cirelli line was the Bolts’ best line. They finished with a 73.60 expected goals percentage at 5v5 and accrued five scoring chances while allowing only two. They finished the game with 15 shot attempts, the highest on the team, but only conceded eight, which is the best differential of any line. They forced turnovers with their unrelenting pressure. They don’t have one player who can singlehandedly will them a goal—although Cirelli is getting closer—but their sum is greater than their parts. They excel at keeping the opponent hemmed in its own end and they have terrific puck movement on the cycle.

For a team strongly positioned to advance to the Cup, it is an unusual second line, and with the Blake Coleman addition, maybe Jon Cooper will split them up. But this trio has a master’s degree in puck management, and they can score in myriad ways. Jon Cooper now realizes that Tyler Johnson and Yanni Gourde are ancillary pieces. Cooper’s continued reshuffling of the lineup that has seen Johnson and Gourde demoted and Killorn and Cirelli rewarded has been a key reason for the Lightning’s improved versatility.
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