We love the scorers. They are quick and graceful, and we get to celebrate their triumphs with them in real time.
Of course, we love the goaltender, too. He is stoic and solid, and on his best days looks like some kind of masked nobleman.
Then there are the other guys. The nondescript gaggle of defensemen who grunt, block, hit, shove and bleed seemingly on demand.
C’mon, you know who they are. Lately, they’re the ones who look like the backbone of this Lightning team.
Tampa Bay beat Boston 3-1 on Saturday in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinal, putting the Lightning one victory from clinching the series against the reigning Presidents’ Trophy winners.
And in case you haven’t noticed, the Lightning are thriving in this postseason because their defense has been among the best in the bubble. Yes, the team with the shoot-first-and-repeatedly mentality has a born-again defense.
Nine games into the postseason, the Lightning are giving up 2.22 goals per game. Going into Saturday night’s action, that was the second-best average of the eight teams remaining in the playoffs.
Maybe it’s because Tampa Bay was fortunate enough to draw offensively-challenged Columbus in the first round. Maybe the sample size is too small to declare a true turnaround.
Or maybe it’s that the Lightning finally have a bunch of defenders worthy of their high-scoring teammates.
“Obviously, it helps having the best goalie in the league back there making big saves for us,” said defenseman Victor Hedman. “But as a group we’ve really come together and really focused in on the details on the defensive part of the game. We’re still going to score goals, we know that. We have all the skill in the world, so we’re super happy in the way we’ve come together in the defensive part of the game.”
Of course, it’s not just goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy and the guys on the blue line. Forwards Anthony Cirelli, Alex Killorn and Tyler Johnson have helped shut down Boston’s famed Perfection Line in even-strength situations the past two games. Even temperamental scorer Nikita Kucherov got in on the action Saturday, knocking 6-foot-9 Zdeno Chara into the boards and making defensive stops in the final minutes.
And the Lightning have done all of this without Ryan McDonagh the past two games. They’ve done it with 35-year-old Braydon Coburn, whose average time on ice this season was his lowest since he was a 20-year-old rookie on a team that no longer exists.
They’ve done it with 30-year-old Luke Schenn, who never before had made it this far in the playoffs. They’re doing it with Zach Bogosian, who has logged more time as a Lightning player in the postseason than in the regular season. They’re doing it with Kevin Shattenkirk, Erik Cernak, Mikhail Sergachev and Hedman, their one bona fide defensive star.
“The ’D’ have been good, they’ve been predictable. It makes life on a forward a lot easier as far as coming out of the zone,” forward Blake Coleman said. “Had some big shot blocks, strong in front of our net, Vasy has been huge. Pretty much everything we’ve needed has come together. And we’re getting our chance by being responsible defensively, and waiting to counter on them.”
What began as a nail-biter of a series is beginning to look like a rout, and it’s mostly due to Boston’s inability to score even-handed goals against Tampa Bay. Half of Boston’s eight goals have come in power-play situations. In 5-on-5 play, the Lightning have outscored the Bruins 12-4.
Getting early leads has been key, coach Jon Cooper said, because it has forced Boston to chase the Lightning by increasing ice-time for their star players. It also has increased Boston’s level of frustration.
Trailing by two in the final seven minutes, the Bruins still couldn’t manage any decent scoring chances. They fired two errant shots, had one blocked by Hedman, and got off only one shot on goal despite an all-out offensive push.
“Guys were committed, guys were blocking shots, guys were committed to our structure in the neutral zone,” Cooper said. “It was a pretty gutty effort by the guys to shut them down for those last five to six minutes.”
To be completely accurate, it’s been more like 128 minutes. Which is how long it has been since Boston scored an even-strength goal.
Do that for another 60 minutes Monday night, and the Lightning will be back in the Eastern Conference final.
John Romano can be reached at jromano@tampabay.com. Follow @romano_tbtimes.
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