“He who fights with monsters should
look to it that he himself does not become a monster”
Play against a team that interferes,
hooks, shoves, obstructs and bends the rules long enough and you
might begin to pick up some of their habits. While the Lightning have
too much talent to completely descend into Nietzche's abyss, after
playing them 13 times in the last year (4 regular season games and 9
post season) they are definitely picking up some of the Red Wings'
“bad” habits.
The good news for Bolts fans is that
that style plays well in the post season. On Friday night, a night
before Elton's good night for fighting, the Lightning bullied the Red
Wings all over the ice, winning 5-2 and leaving Amalie Arena with a
2-0 lead in the series. As the game descended into chaos around him,
Tyler Johnson continued to torture the Red Wings scoring 2 goals and
pickinh up 2 assists. Through the first two games Detroit has yet to
find a way to slow down Tyler and the Killer K's as Johnson, Alex
Killorn and Nikita Kucherov have combined to score 15 points through
the first two games.
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| The Red Wings literally can't keep Nikita out of the net. Photo by Mike Carlson Getty Images |
However, the story of the game wasn't
so much Johnson's performance, but the state of affairs between the
two teams. It's not very cordial. Last year, the Lightning were
frustrated by the way Detroit played hockey. They tried to continue
to score pretty goals and were constantly taken aback by the
borderline shiftiness that the Red Wings excel at. The
after-the-whistle pushing and shoving, the borderline interference
and obstruction, the elbows that got up a little higher than should
be allowed.
This year the Lightning seem ready for
it. Not only that, they are giving just as good as they get. They
seemed inspired by the play of the Prodigal Son, Jonathan Drouin, who
was just as surly in Game Two as he was in Game One. After getting
bloodied by an elbow from Riley Sheahan midway through the second
period, Drouin literally chased the young Red Wing around the ice
trying to get him to fight. Sadly we were denied the opportunity of
seeing how well the former number 3 overall pick could throw hands,
but it was a prime example of how this team doesn't back down from
anyone.
Drouin was involved in another example
later in the game when he set Brian Boyle up for his goal (the only
goal not scored by Tyler and the Killers so far this season). Boyle
played pretty loose with the interference rules as he took Luke
Glendening out of the play which freed up the puck to start Drouin on
the offensive rush.
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| Hey, if Boyle hadn't shoved him, Glendening would never have even touched the puck! |
I would like to see the Lightning win
playing a hockey version of The Beautiful Game, but I would like to
see them win the Stanley Cup more. In the playoffs you can get away
with more than you would in the regular season and it looks like they
are starting to realize that. They can still score goals with speed
and talent (see Johnson's second goal where Kucherov blows by Alexey
Marchenko and sets TJ up for the perfect one-timer) but they are now
getting the ugly goals as well. Johnson scored the game winner by
planting himself in front of three Red Wings and whacking at the puck
while taking a shove in the back.
On defense they're doing the same
thing. Detroit is getting time in the offensive zone, but they're
having trouble getting shots through. When they do get a shot on net
either Ben Bishop is soaking it up or whatever rebound is there is
cleared by the Lightning. The Red Wings are frustrated, why else
would former Lady Byng winner Brad Richards touch off a game-ending
brawl with a viscous slash at Andrej Sustr's legs?
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| Things really escalated. I think Brick killed a guy. Photo by Scott Audette NHLI/Getty |
There is a fine line between aggressive
and reckless. So far the Lightning have toed it pretty well, but now
that the line match-ups are going to favor the Red Wings they will
have to be careful not to get caught out of position. Roughing and
fighting penalties are one thing, but if they start picking up the
hooking, holding and tripping penalties that indicate a player
getting beat on a play then things could escalate in a bad way for
them. At some point Detroit is going to start scoring with the man
advantage.
The Lightning have done a great job of
antagonizing the Red Wings through the first two games (speaking of
antagonizing – props to the PA guy for playing “Separate Ways”
during the official timeout after the brawl. That drove Detroit fans
absolutely INSANE). Now that they have them on the ropes they have
to make sure to finish them off. In tight, highly-charged series
like this, giving the other team even a sense that they can come back
could be disastrous.
The Hopeful Chase 3 Stars:
3 - Ryan Callahan – I know he didn't
have a point, but he played 19 minutes of hard hockey. He was
blocking shots and breaking up passes all night long. Also, you
gotta get some credit when you dive on top of a scrum to pull players
off.
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| Callahan has his "I'm gonna hit a rookie face" going. Photo by Scott Audette NHLI/Getty |
2 - Ben Bishop – Another ho-hum 30
save game for Bish. While the Lightning dominated most of the game,
the big netminder made saves when he needed to, including at the end
of the first. He probably would have liked to have the Dylan Larkin
goal back, but for the most part he has been the wall that the
Lightning need him to be.
1 - Tyler Johnson - Two goals, two
assists and another huge game for the Red Wing killer. I think it's
safe to say there are no lingering effects from the hit he took in
the last game of the season.
Did Matt Carle Get a Point?
He did! His clearing attempt was
picked up by Alex Killorn and the Harvard Man slid it into the empty
net. Maybe a cheap way to pick up a point, but it still counts.
Carle was on the ice for almost 20 minutes (mainly because Victor
Hedman couldn't stay out of the penalty box) and it shows Coach
Cooper's growing trust in him that he was on the ice at the end of
the game. If Anton Stralman comes back, Carle might not be the
automatic scratch (I'm looking at you, Nikita Nesterov).
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