Tampa takes electric Game 2
Bolts, Blackhawks finally shake off defensive shackles
TAMPA— For this Stanley Cup final to become what it should be — for it to live up to its potential, which is all any of us want to do — it needed two things on Saturday night, and only one was at all negotiable. First, it needed both the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Chicago Blackhawks to loosen the reins and let the horses run, really run, like Triple Crown winners with misspelled names. They needed to let ’em play some hockey, and have some fun. Done.
And second, Tampa needed to win Game 2. I mean, probably. Teams that fall behind 2-0 this high on the mountain go tumbling off about nine out of every 10 times, and losing to the Chicago Blackhawks would make the footing treacherous. The Lightning always tell themselves that they play their best in the big games, and while this wasn’t a Game 7, it qualified.
Well, we surely got the first. The two teams opened by sliding back and forth, fast. A great hockey game is just a little ragged, just ragged enough, a departure from the predictable and edging into chaos. This was that. The how-do-youdo checking of Game 1 melted away, and they exchanged chances, real ones. Jona- than Drouin on his first shift in a month, Tyler Johnson off a post, Patrick Kane shimmying in the slot, Brandon Saad on a 2-on-1. Dangerous hockey gives coaches nightmares, but find something that’s more fun.
And instead of the stasis that developed in Game 1, this thing kept its feet moving. Lightning rookie Cedric Paquette opened the scoring seven minutes in, stepping around the giant predator cat that is Saad, and snapping off a clever shot that beat traffic before Jonathan Toews could get there. Finally Paquette, who said he tried to trash-talk Toews in Game 1, had some actual material.
In Game 1, Tampa sat on its lead until it got taken away late in the third; this time, it didn’t take that long. Chicago tied the game less than four minutes into the second — Andrew Shaw, the guy who very well may have bitten Tampa’s Victor Hedman in Game 1, but you can’t prove it, copper — and 20-year-old Finn Teuvo Teravainen on a power play two minutes later. Tampa was down 2-1, and reeling.
But they came to play, too. Drouin’s brief time in the sun vanished after he dangled too long around Toews and lost the puck, but the Triplets line showed up. It had gone missing a few games, and there was speculation centre Tyler Johnson was hurt — he briefly left the morning skate, and didn’t take faceoffs in Game 2 after taking 15 in Game 1.
“When Bish had to leave, there wasn’t an ounce of stress on anybody on our bench, including myself,” said Lightning coach Jon Cooper, who wouldn’t otherwise address his goaltenders.
The Vasilevskiy kid is built like a mountain, six-foot-three and heavy muscled legs, V-shaped back, hulking, huge. He’s said to be a top-notch athlete, with good technique. He’s played 16 regular-season games in the NHL, all this season. He had played 45 minutes in relief before Game 2, both in blowout losses, and stopped 29 of 33 shots. He stopped five shots Saturday night, including a pad save on Brad Richards that was pretty good. Vasilevskiy was a first-rounder in 2012, and has that sparkling thing called potential.
“He battles so hard, never gives up on a puck, so quick post to post, like you see that save on Richards on the power play,” said Hedman. “He’s a big guy, just competes real hard, it’s amazing he’s only 20 years old. He’s shown on every level that he can win — world juniors, world championships, and in Russia. It’s been a lot of fun to watch him this year.”
“Nervous? Just maybe a little bit but after the first couple shots, I feel myself better,” said Vasilevskiy, in his pieces of English. “Every game I’m ready and I keep my head ready for the game and that’s it.”
But he’s a mystery, and besides, nobody knows how badly Bishop is hurt. He tried to come back; it could have been a cramp, a groin, a knee. Maybe he’ll be back in Game 3. Maybe not.
Either way, this series has been thrown into chaos and uncertainty, and that’s good. Teams that fall behind 2-0 this high on the mountain lose the series about nine out of every 10 times. This game was where the series really started, and now we don’t know how it will end.
However it does, Game 2 showed this final could live up to its potential. These teams can play so fast, with so much skill, and as long as the goalies aren’t perfect and the schemes can get wrecked, it could be special. So, go for it. Play a series that only lets people catch their breath between games. Be the flying teams you want to be, rather than the cautious teams you think you should be.
Give us a final that feels like it’s out of anybody’s control. We have a mystery Russian goalie, missed calls, a silent Patrick Kane, and Jonathan Toews getting muffled by a kid named Cedric Paquette, so far. Anything can happen, sure.
But please play five more like this one, if you can.