The Tampa Bay Lightning had turned in one of the best regular seasons in NHL history in 2019-20. They won 62 games, had 128 points, won their division by 21 points over second place Boston and had a goal differential of +103. They were so much better than everyone else the Stanley Cup championship seemed like a formality.
And then they ran into a feisty Columbus team in the first round of the playoffs. The Blue Jackets stunned them in Game 1 by coming from behind, down 3-0, and winning 4-3. From that point on it was pretty much a butt kicking. The Blue Jackets won in every category: They were more physical, skated better, were mentally tougher and even got better goaltending.
The final three games weren’t particularly close, actually, as it looked like the Lightning never recovered from blowing that Game 1 lead.
Immediately, the Lightning were labeled chokers, soft, mentally weak, regular season champions and postseason chumps. There was discussion of breaking up the core of the team, moving on from a few of the stars and changing the team dynamics because the group just didn’t have the mentality to win it all.
Two years later, here we sit with the Lightning two wins away from repeating as Stanley Cup champions. They have now won seven playoff series in a row since losing to Columbus and hold a 2-0 lead against Montreal in the Stanley Cup Final. They battled through COVID-19 bubble hockey last season and persevered through a trying regular season riddled with a few key injuries.
And they have done it all with pretty much their entire collection of stars and core players still wearing a Lightning uniform. They are still as skilled as just about any team and still can skate with just about everyone.
People will say, “Andrei Vasilevskiy is the best goalie in the world and that’s why they are winning,” but let’s not forget that he, too, played in that dreadful Columbus series. He played all four games, gave up 15 goals, had a 3.82 GAA and had an .856 save percentage in those games.
He was clearly outplayed by Sergei Bobrovsky, so it can’t just be “they have a great goalie.”
The real answer is that Jon Cooper and Co. set out on a mission to make the Lightning a tougher matchup. They added some size, some toughness and some defensive physicality to their lineup while maintaining most of their identity as an incredibly offensively skilled team. People who haven’t paid attention closely enough still see them as this skilled finesse team, but truth be told, they are now the second heaviest team in the NHL.
Since the Columbus disaster, Tampa Bay has added Blake Coleman (5-11, 200), Pat Maroon (6-2, 236) and Barclay Goodrow (6-2, 215) on offense. The Lightning have also added David Savard (6-2, 229) and Luke Schenn (6-2, 227) on defense. Colemon, Goodrow and Schenn came at last year’s trade deadline, Savard came at this year’s trade deadline. Maroon signed with the Lightning prior to last season after winning a Stanley Cup with the Blues in 2018-19.
The result is a team that can give you anything you want and beat you at any game you want to play. I have thoroughly enjoyed watching both the Islanders and now Canadiens try to bully the Lightning — it hasn’t worked. In fact, it has backfired because the Lightning haven’t just beat them on the scoreboard, they matched them physically and haven’t backed down an inch.
In Game 1 of the series, the Canadiens started their chippy “old school” nonsense when it was clear the game was slipping away, and Cooper put a few combinations of players out on the ice together that took care of it quickly. And then they scored a power play goal to finish the Canadiens off for good measure. The message was clear: We can handle you physically, and you can’t handle our skill.
I bring this up because it is absolutely the right model for the Penguins to follow. There is this idea that the Penguins have to give up most of their identity or part ways with their core or compromise their skill to become a heavier, more physical team that doesn’t get pushed around in the playoffs.
That’s not true at all, and the Lightning are proof of it. Yes, they gave up some prospects and picks and trade chips to retool their roster the way they have, but you have to give something to get something. In the end, what they did is put together a team that is still as fun to watch as any, but is also built to win in the playoffs.
True, the Penguins don’t have Vasilevskiy. But not every team that has won a Stanley Cup recently has had an elite goalie, so it is possible. The Penguins need to get some defensemen who can clear people out of the zone, some forwards who can become a pain in the neck in front of the other teams net and a few guys who can restore order when other teams want to get chippy with their stars.
This is a big offseason for the Penguins, and many wonder what direction they will go. Here are my two cents: Follow the blueprint provided by the Lightning and try to make another run or two around this core of players.
Paul Zeise: pzeise@post-gazette.com or Twitter: @PaulZeise
First Published: July 2, 2021, 7:43 p.m.
