Showing some guts in rally to top Isles
Lightning find a way to push series lead to 2-0
The odds were stacked against them from the start. Yet, in typical Lightning fashion, they made it work.
Down two forwards in an 11-7 adjusted lineup, the Lightning defeated the Islanders 2-1 late Wednesday night in Edmonton for the 2-0 series lead in the Eastern Conference final. Coach Jon Cooper called it a “gutty” effort.
It came down to the last 10 seconds of the game, and some good eye contact between Nikita Kucherov and Ryan McDonagh to make the difference.
With nearly 11 seconds remaining, McDonagh crept up the left side along the boards, intercepting the puck as it made its way around the back of the ice. He skated nearly to the goal line before finding Kucherov on the right side, wide open for the shot. He made eye contact with the right wing and shuffled out the puck.
As Kucherov moved slightly away from the post, he one-timed it past New York’s Semyon Varlamov in goal for the 2-1 lead with nine seconds remaining in the third period.
“I saw Mac coming down low and picking up the puck and I kind of made eye contact with him and I knew what he was going to do and probably he knew what I’m going to do,” Kucherov said. “He made a nice pass across the ice and all I had to do was hit the open net.”
Cooper couldn’t speak highly enough about the right wing’s effort, especially in the absence of Brayden Point (one of Kucherov’s linemates) and Alex Killorn (who plays in all situations for the Lightning).
“[Kucherov] put the team on his back,” Cooper said after the win. “… In the end, you need to get the next [goal] and Kuch did it and a ton of credit to him for it for being a part of this and leading us.”
Hedman also sang high praises about the right wing’s effort.
“A lot of credit goes to our forwards today, [Kucherov] was unbelievable,” Hedman said. “He was all over the ice and when you have your most skilled player do that, it rubs off on everyone else, so our forwards showed a lot of resiliency today.”
Unlike Monday’s 8-2 romp, nothing came easy for the Lightning. New York’s Matt Martin got on the board in the first 1:24 of the game to open up the scoring with a 1-0 lead.
Things continued to worsen as Killorn took a boarding penalty on Brock Nelson, which also resulted in a game misconduct. Tampa Bay had to continue the game with 10 forwards.
Hedman gave the team some energy heading into the first intermission with the tying goal thanks to an assist from Barclay Goodrow with 1:35 remaining in the first period. With the goal, Hedman now leads all defensemen in the league with seven in the postseason (one goal ahead of Vegas’ Shea Theodore).
About six minutes into the second period, things took a turn for the worse as Point went down the tunnel with an injury, forcing the Lightning to skate with nine forwards on their bench for the remainder of the evening.
And almost 40 minutes went by before Kucherov clinched the win.
“There’s no quit in our group,” McDonagh said after the game. “And we have a lot of gutsy players, and it’s fun to be a part of the group for sure.”
With the goal, Kucherov tied his postseason points mark from 2015 with 22 points logged so far in the 2020 playoffs (six goals, 16 assists). He is tied for fifth among the franchise’s top scorers in a single postseason.
Andrei Vasilevskiy stood tall in between the posts again, notching his 12th win of the postseason (through15 games) and his leagueleading 23rd win, which dates to the 2018 playoff run. He made 27 saves on 28 shots against the Islanders.
“It gives you a ton of confidence (playing in front of him),” McDonagh said of Vasilevskiy. “We know we’re going to make mistakes and we feel really confident back there he sees. He’s like a third defenseman … huge for us.”
About eight minutes into the third period, McDonagh made an aggressive defensive play on Nelson as the Islanders forward charged toward Vasilevskiy to take a shot.
But the Lightning defenseman was called for holding, putting the Islanders on the power play. Less than a minute and a half later, Cedric Paquette was called for hooking on Mathew Barzal, forcing 5-on-3 play for the next 38 seconds. The penalty kill found its success for the fourth time of the evening.
“That 5-on-3 (penalty) kill and the play from Vasy was phenomenal,” Hedman said.
The win wasn’t as flashy or pretty as Game 1’s, but it tested the team’s depth and put everything they’ve said to this point into action.
“I think it was one of those games that we were kind of fighting the circumstances of the game and whether it was just a lot of [penalty] kills, not a lot of guys on the bench, up front, those are the games that feel the best,” Blake Coleman said after the win. “And obviously, it all came out there at the end.”