Speedy, skilled Lightning look to eliminate Rangers
They could be the new model if they win the Cup
Jon Cooper did not want to get ahead of himself. There is still another game to be played. Maybe two, he said.
But with a 3-2 series lead against the New York Rangers in the Eastern Conference final, the head coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning is aware that his team has a chance to do something more significant than just win another playoff round.
Teams that reach the Stanley Cup final get noticed. Teams that win the Stanley Cup get copied.
For a Lightning team that has cornered the market on smallish, speedy players who rely on skill and creativity to win games, this could be the start of something new for the NHL. Ever since Anaheim won the Cup in 2007, teams have been getting bigger and heavier. Boston beat up Vancouver to win in 2011; Los Angeles, a two-time winner, used that same formula to grind its opponent into mush.
Tampa? They might not be violent. But they will dazzle you to death. And with every series they win, the skill versus size argument shifts in their favour.
“You couldn’t say it now,” said Cooper, speaking on an off day prior to Tuesday’s Game 6 in Tampa. “We would have to advance to the final and then win or at least make a good run at winning for people to say, ‘OK, maybe.’
“I think the jury’s still out. But you’re right, teams look at teams that win the Cup and they look at, ‘OK, how’d they get there, how’d they do it?’ I’m sure people — if we do advance and go farther — would look at us in a different way than they look at the L.A. Kings.”
The NHL is not an entirely original league. When the New Jersey Devils won championships by clogging the neutral zone and playing a defence-first style, other teams blindly followed them into the dead-puck era.
After the Ducks won with topsix forwards that could score and bottom-six forwards that pounded you into submission, it created a template for Boston and most of the Western Conference.
Teams, like Chicago, have won it with skill. But for every Detroit and Pittsburgh, there is an Ottawa or a Vancouver or even a New York team that has run up against size and failed.
“I think it’s a copycat league for whoever wins the Stanley Cup,” said Lightning forward Brenden Morrow. “And we’re a long ways from there. I think Chicago is a pretty similar team. They’ve won it in the past. They’re a skating team, they’ve got the speed and the skill.”
The Lightning have speed and skill similar to the Blackhawks. But whether it is on or off the ice, Tampa Bay has taken an unconventional way to get one win away from the final.
With an average age of 26, this is a young team.
“Might be the only guy with grey in the beard right now,” joked Morrow.
And though five players, including goaltender Ben Bishop, are 6-foot-5 or taller, Tampa Bay also has eight players who are 5-foot-11 or shorter.
Steven Stamkos was a No. 1 overall pick and Victor Hedman was a No. 2 pick. But the Lightning have relied on players who were never drafted (Tyler Johnson) or chosen with the fourth-last pick (Ondrej Palat).
Passports are also not important. If you can make plays with the puck and skate, it does not matter if you are from Canada (nine players), Russia (four), Sweden (two) or even North Carolina (J.T. Brown).
Tampa Bay led the NHL in scoring during the regular season. And with five players in the top10 in playoff scoring, they are still finding room out there at a time when the games are more tightly checked, more physical and less wide open.
You can probably count on one hand the number of bodychecks the Lightning will deliver in a game, but you’ll need a calculator to keep up with the number of drop passes, fake shots and did-you-see-that plays.
Even their tall guys, like 6-foot-6 Hedman (“It’s amazing how he can skate,” said Brian Boyle), are able to rush up the ice and make plays.
“There’s a difference between a regular season team and a playoff team,” said Cooper. “You have to be skilled enough to get into the playoffs, and you have to be heavy enough to win in the playoffs. Sometimes (being heavy) doesn’t translate into getting into the playoffs.”
The Lightning, who defeated Detroit and Montreal in the first two rounds, have faced similarly skilled teams to get to the doorstep of the Stanley Cup final. But if the Ducks beat the Blackhawks, it could set up a contrast of styles and possibly a change in the game.
That is, if they can close out this series first.
As Morrow said, “No one really copies the team that’s in the conference final.”