Bolts bounce back in a big way
LIGHTNING 6 ,
Don't stress out about the score.
“If they score first,” Pat
Maroon had said prior to Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final, “that's fine.”
Just keep playing, keep working, keep finding ways to create offence and to get more shots and more pressure. Trust the process. And don't give up.
This is what the Tampa Bay Lightning had told themselves heading into what was the most pivotal — if not most important — game of their post-season.
Once again, they knew they had dug themselves another big hole after losing back-to-back games to start the seven-game series. But as they proved against the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round and against the New York Rangers in the conference final, they also knew they had more to give against the Colorado Avalanche.
After all, as they showed in a 6-2 statement win on Monday night, they hadn't won back-toback championships by fluke.
“We're a veteran team that knows how to play the right way and we know what works and what doesn't work,” said Maroon, who had a goal and an assist. “We're not in a do-or-die situation right now. But we've got to go out there and find our best game right now. They haven't seen our best.”
It's difficult to say whether Colorado saw Tampa Bay's best in Game 3. But it was certainly better than what the Lightning had shown in a 7-0 loss in Game 2. Either way, it was good enough to get themselves back in a best-ofseven series that the Avalanche are now leading 2-1.
That it came in a game where Tampa Bay was missing Brayden Point and had several others who were struggling to get around the ice — including Nikita Kucherov, who left in the third period after getting cross-checked from behind — showed that it is going to take far more than what the Avalanche has given to knock the champs off their throne.
This was more of what we had expected out of the Lightning, a team that had looked too slow and too tired to keep up with the Avalanche in the first two games of the series, but who were able to turn the tables and had their opponents gasping for air in Game 3.
Maybe it had something to do with being at home — and back at sea level — where Tampa Bay has gone 8-1 in these playoffs. Maybe it had something to do with their pride and not wanting to be embarrassed again. Or maybe we were just too quick to write them off after two games.
Either way, everything — from their goaltending to their stars showing up to their scoring depth — was a lot better on Monday night.
That included their resilience. Like the previous two games, the start to the game wasn't ideal for Tampa Bay, who trailed 1-0 on a power-play goal from Gabriel Landeskog at 8:19 in the first period. It was the third straight game in which Colorado had struck first. But considering the circumstances, it could have been worse.
A lot worse.
Minutes earlier, Valeri Nichushkin had fooled Andrei Vasilevskiy with a knuckle-shot that could have given Colorado a two-goal lead. Luckily for Tampa Bay, the goal was challenged for an earlier offside and disallowed.
Still, being down 1-0 wasn't ideal. Especially against a quickstrike team like Colorado, which had scored three goals in each of the previous two games' first periods.
That's where Maroon's pregame comments came into play.
Down 1-0, the Lightning didn't fold or get flustered. Instead, they tied the game at 13:03 on a gorgeous play where Anthony Cirelli and Maroon played giveand-go to get around Avalanche defencemen Cale Makar and Devon Toews, before Cirelli slid a deke underneath Darcy Kuemper.
Less than two minutes later, the Lightning scored again. This
time it was Ondrej Palat playing give-and-go with Steven Stamkos, before burying a shot past Kuemper to make it 2-1.
For once, it was Colorado that looked winded and couldn't keep up.
In the second period, Tampa Bay blew the doors wide open.
After Nick Paul and Landeskog traded goals to make it 3-2, Stamkos and Maroon pumped shots past Kuemper, chasing the Avalanche goalie from the game. Not that it changed anything. With Pavel Francouz in net, Corey Perry shovelled in a rebound to extend the Lightning's lead to 6-2.
At the other end, Vasilevskiy was back to being Vasilevskiy.
Having seen Vasilevskiy allow 11 goals in the first two games of the final, the Lightning had been confident that their all-world goalie would rebound, especially after he stubbornly refused to be pulled in a 7-0 loss in Game 2. And they were right. From the start of the first period, when Vasilevskiy fell into the splits and robbed JT Compher of a sure goal — he made a similar stop on Compher in the second — it was clear that it was going to take a lot for Colorado to get pucks past him.
This was more like the goalie that had won a Conn Smythe Trophy as last year's playoff
MVP. And this was more like the team that had won back-to-back championships.
Three games in, we've finally got a series.
Game 4 is on Wednesday. And it's now anyone's bet who is going to show up and win.