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Lightning Defensive Group Shines Without Girardi

February 22, 2019, 8:41 AM ET [14 Comments]
Sam Hitchcock
Tampa Bay Lightning Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The Lightning are formidable, but not unbeatable. One way they can be undermined is if they are felled by a hot goaltender. Last night, in the Lightning’s 2-1 victory over the Sabres in a shootout, the Lightning generated 25 Scoring Chances and 7 High-Danger Scoring Chances at 5v5. They had several power play opportunities and a breakaway attempt in the three-on-three. Buffalo goaltender Carter Hutton was sensational and the Lightning were unlucky, hitting the post three times, although ultimately they triumphed.

A subplot from the game should not be overlooked: the influence of Tampa Bay’s defensive group. It was efficient in its puck movement in all three zones – from breakout, to neutral zone resets, to cycling. Coach Jon Cooper has recognized that Ryan Callahan is not one of his best twelve forwards, and he scratches him in lieu of multiple rookies. That same decision must be made come playoff time at defense, because Dan Girardi is neither skilled nor mobile enough to play in the Lightning’s defensive group. Last night, he sat out, and we were reminded of the delicious possibilities enabled by other pairings without Girardi.

The empowerment of the Lightning defensemen serves as an accelerant for the forwards. The Brayden Point turnaround shot before the first TV timeout in the first period was an example of how beneficial the Bolts’ defensemen are in terms of alleviating the burden on the forwards and opening up scoring opportunities. An outstanding save by Hutton came from just outside the crease. The play started with Mikhail Sergachev holding the puck for Ryan McDonagh behind the Lightning net, and then McDonagh grabbed the puck and spirited it up the ice.

McDonagh finally released the puck for a dump-in once he crossed the red line. Hutton came out of his net, but struggled to control the puck. Nevertheless, he left it for Rasmus Ristolainen, who, feeling the pressure from Point, smacked the puck toward the weak side. But McDonagh had pinched below the circles for the steal, and he passed it in front where Point would beat Jake McCabe to the puck and generate the shot from in tight.

It is important that the Kucherov line be able to forecheck in the postseason, because opponents will do their best to stall their rush and transition attack. But the Kucherov line’s success on dump-ins will partly be dependent on how well their defensemen place the puck when they chip it deep, and whether they can effectively pinch and create a turnover if the puck gets funneled up the boards. McDonagh did an excellent job in this instance, and as Lightning color analyst Brian Engblom noted multiple times, Buffalo did a nice job boxing out and tying up Lightning forwards in the slot. Still, in this sequence, the Sabres failed to neutralize Point in the low slot and nearly surrendered a goal. And it would not have been possible without McDonagh’s puck transportation, well-placed dump-in, and aggressive pinch and pass.

On the Nikita Kucherov goal, the Sabres had had two false starts in the Lightning defensive zone before an errant pass off Zach Bogosian’s skate. On the first failed offensive-zone attempt, Jack Eichel dumped the puck in and Bogosian chased it, but was rubbed off the puck by Point, assisted by Victor Hedman underneath. The second entry came when Evan Rodriguez found Eichel with a stretch pass from blue line to blue line, but Hedman was all over Eichel and thwarted him before he could move an inch forward, forcing the puck to leave the offensive zone without so much as a shot attempt from Buffalo. On the third offensive-zone attempt, Bogosian swung the puck around to the far boards and Rodriguez tried to find him on a give-and-go as Bogosian had wriggled into the slot. But Bogosian failed to corral the inaccurate pass, and the puck squirted loose for Kucherov to seize on for a two-on-one with Johnson. At the time of the turnover, all three Sabres forwards were below the dots.



The Lightning caught a break on the bad feed by Rodriguez because Bogosian was open, but the play was also a byproduct of the Lightning’s speed on the perimeter. The Lightning defensemen have the mobility to step up and confront forwards as dangerous as Eichel, and they work with their forwards to create turnovers along the boards, like they did on Bogosian’s failure on the first entry. (One of the most pronounced ways the Lightning defensemen show off their speed to the boards is on the penalty kill.) But when a team proves to be stingy in its own end, it forces its opponent to ramp up its aggression, which can lead to counterattacks if the puck is misfired.

Hedman missed Tuesday’s game against the Flyers and, at least at 5v5, was not the dangerous playmaker he usually is. But Sergachev, the other playmaking Lightning defenseman, was creating shot attempts for himself, finishing with 6 shot attempts and two Scoring Chances. These two are judged by different standards than the other four defensemen. The expectations are different. Anton Stralman will never be a threat to score, but when he was on the ice, the Lightning finished with a +5 Corsi Plus-Minus. Braydon Coburn finished +7 in that metric.

If the Lightning are controlling possession, generally it is an indication that Stralman and Coburn are checking the requisite boxes: quick retrievals, good reads in the neutral zone, and pinching when called upon, whether that be sliding up the boards on the forecheck or jumping into the rush. This isn’t to say the Lightning defensemen played impeccable hockey; the Sabres did have offensive success, especially Eichel. But I think it is telling that, if not for a fluky McDonagh missed shot-block that turned into a deflection goal against, Andre Vasilevskiy would have had a shutout. After all, in all three periods the Lightning collected more shots on goal and more Scoring Chances at 5v5.

Girardi’s expendability is an unexpected development, just like the Callahan situation. The Lightning front office and scouting department have done such a miraculous job of acquiring and developing talent that they can have veteran reserves sit behind the glass, waiting in case of an emergency.
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