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Vegas Terminates Bolts' Win Streak |
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Vegas brings out the worst in the Lightning. Despite Tampa Bay’s spotty franchise record against the Golden Knights, on Thursday night the Lightning submitted an adequate effort considering they were missing Brayden Point, Ryan McDonagh, and Jan Rutta. But Vegas converted on the Bolts’ mistakes, helping to end Tampa Bay’s 11-game win streak.
It’s hard to feel bad for the Lightning. Their long string of victories places them three points outside the division lead and in contention to win the Presidents’ Trophy. If Boston beats them out for both, they could draw Toronto or Florida in the playoffs, and they’d be heavily favored to win either matchup. Three things that jumped out from last night were: 1) Blake Coleman’s debut and his linemates, 2) how much Point impacts Nikita Kucherov and Steven Stamkos, and 3) Ryan McDonagh’s absence.
Welcome to Tampa Bay
It was a mostly encouraging first performance for Coleman, especially in the opening period. Jon Cooper started him at wing on the Mitchell Stephens line, and he had a couple of good flourishes. The line finished with 12 shot attempts at 5v5 and was the only line to accrue more than one high-danger chance.
One important quality Coleman demonstrated is that he can forecheck. He had a few good reads as the F1 and F2, which makes the prospect of this iteration of the Stephens trio (with Yanni Gourde as the third forward) being used as a shutdown line even more tantalizing come postseason time. But Coleman also can create off the rush. With 11 minutes left in the first frame, he filched the puck from Shea Theodore and created a rush chance for himself.
In that same period, with six minutes and 20 seconds left, Coleman carried the puck through the neutral zone and, after gaining the entry, tossed it to Ondrej Palat. Palat would slip the puck through the seam to Anthony Cirelli on the weak side. Cirelli heaved a low backhand shot on net that forced Marc-Andre Fleury to make a challenging save.
With under five minutes left in the first period, and helped by some pressure from Cedric Paquette and Gourde, Coleman intercepted a sloppy area pass by Jonathan Marchessault and swooped in on net, firing a shot far post. Fleury kicked out his right pad and stopped the shot.
Those were three nice opportunities where Coleman made something happen offensively. But defensively his efforts were inconsistent. After the shot on Fleury with less than five minutes left, Coleman coasted back during the Golden Knights’ counterattack, and despite recognizing Paul Stastny was wide open on the weak side, made no effort to sprint up and take away Stastny’s stick. Vegas couldn’t deliver Stastny the puck, but if they had, Coleman would have been culpable for lack of effort in transition defense.
There were other instances too, like the Mark Stone goal, where Coleman stood idle as the puck zoomed down the opposite side of the ice. When Point recovers from the flu, it will be interesting to see how Cooper rejiggers the lineup.
Tyler Johnson isn’t an adequate substitute for Point
I wonder if Cooper, with the benefit of hindsight, wonders what the outcome would have been last night if he had moved Cirelli to play center for Kucherov and Stamkos. While the Kucherov line did lead the team in 5v5 shots with six, they spent a lot of time playing defense in their own zone and were responsible for allowing two goals.
On the Stastny tip, after less than 15 seconds in the offensive zone trying to forecheck, the Johnson line was forced to play transition defense. Kevin Shattenkirk’s shot was blocked, and the puck was quickly collected by Vegas to start the counterattack. But all three Lightning forwards were gassed, creating a three-on-two for the Golden Knights. Stamkos would make the best effort to get back and help his defensemen, but by then the puck had been moved from the center to Reilly Smith on the wing, forcing Mikhail Sergachev into a difficult one-on-one versus Stastny, which he lost. At the seven second mark, you can see Johnson was the last forward back.
Johnson does not add Point’s puck-transportation acumen, nor does he supply the playmaking. But one thing he could provide is a safety net. Kucherov and Stamkos had to assume a bigger offensive burden without having their logistics taken care of by Point, which means more possession time for those two. Johnson should have been the most conscientious about covering their mistakes. But when he was needed, he failed to step up.
The Mark Stone goal wasn’t Johnson’s fault, but it is a reminder of how much Point papers over the puck-management miscues of his wingers. Against strong defensive teams like Vegas, Kucherov needs to chip the puck deep instead of trying to split the two forwards—especially during the period of the long change when his teammates are going for a line change.
Braydon Coburn reminded us that Ryan McDonagh is missed
I think the McDonagh contract is bad, and only going to get worse. I suspect McDonagh isn’t going to ever post offensive numbers like he did in 2018-19, and as he loses speed and battles injuries he becomes more of a liability. However, at this point in time, he is a dramatic upgrade over Coburn. In the third period, Coburn singlehandedly sunk the Bolts’ chances. His turnover to Ryan Reaves was ham-fisted, and his subsequent penalty that allowed Pacioretty to extend the lead to 5-2 was even more dreadful.
The Lightning already made one move before the trade deadline, but acquiring one more defenseman might be wise. Should they suffer an injury to one or two of their defensemen, they do not want to be forced to play Coburn in the postseason.
Tampa Bay Lightning Blogger • 
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