Second One Won & Done

By disposing of Detroit on April 21st, the Tampa Bay Lightning became the first team to advance past the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

And now, having disposed of the NY Islanders yesterday afternoon, they are also the first team to advance past the second round.

They won both series 4-1, which means they are 8-2 so far this post-season. And they have accomplished that despite being depleted by injuries, as Steven Stamkos has missed the entire post-season due to blood clots; and indispensable top-pairing defenseman Anton Stralman has missed it all with a broken fibula; and J.T. Brown, a hard-grinding character guy who makes things happen by doing the dirty work, has missed most of it after sustaining an undisclosed lower body injury  in Game Two against Detroit.

The Bolts are 2-0 in overtime and notched shutouts in both series-clinching games. Although they have played fewer games than all the other other teams that are still alive, Nikita Kucherov has more goals these playoffs (nine) than anyone else in the league while he and Tyler Johnson rank third and second in total points production, with 12 and 13, respectively. And they are both +11, which makes them tied for first in plus/minus followed immediately by Alex Killorn at +10.

In other words, this Lightning squad's playoff performance is starting to seem spookily strong.

However, the playoffs are only halfway over and a sickeningly strong opponent awaits them in the Eastern Conference Final, regardless of whether that opponent is the Pens or Caps.

Before the ECF begins, here are some thoughts about the round that just ended and what lies ahead.


Bish
Goaltender Ben Bishop missed the 2014 playoffs because of injuries, so last year's run to the Stanley Cup Final marked his first ever playoff appearance.

Combining that run with this year's, he has won five of the six series in which he has played, and has clinched four of those five with shutouts: 2-0 over Detroit in Game Seven of the first round in 2015; 2-0 over the NY Rangers in Game Seven of the 2015 ECF; 1-0 over Detroit in Game Five of the first round this year; and 4-0 over the Islanders in Game Five of the second round this year.

Plus, he is 5-0 in overtime.

So far this post-season he has racked up a .938 save percentage and 1.89 goals-against average.

In the recently ended series against the Isles, Bishop kept the Bolts alive in Games Three and Four by withstanding Blitzkrieg-style first-period assaults in which they were outshot 17-9 and 15-6. In both instances, they came back to force OT and then won in OT.

That, mes amies, is championship caliber goaltending.


Kuch
Nikita Kucherov is an elite sniper with one of the quickest releases I've ever seen. But whereas most snipers are streaky, he is every bit as reliable as Old Faithful, that famed Yellowstone geyser that erupts every 35 to 120 minutes, day-in, day-out.

In the Lightning's ten playoff games, Kucherov's goal output has been as follows: two, one, zero, two, zero, one, zero, one, one, and one. In four of those games he scored the team's first goal. In two of them (Games Three and Four versus the Isles) he scored in the third period to force OT in games the team ultimately won.

And heres's the thing: Despite being a sniper who is known almost exclusively for his scoring, and despite being scratched for most of the 2014 playoffs because his defensive play was lacking, Nikita Kucherov has developed into an all-around player who digs pucks out of the corners and battles like a gladiator at the top of the crease.

That, mes amies, is superstar material.


Thor
With the first pick of the 2009 NHL draft, the Islanders opted for John Tavares, an uber talented centerman from Mississauga, Ontario.

With the second pick of that same draft, the Lightning opted for Victor Hedman, an uber talented defenseman from Ornskoldsvik, Sweden. With a home town like that and visage like this, surely you'll understand why some people call him Thor.

In any event, this year's second round matched Tavares and Thor head to head and Thor vanquished Tavares as though wielding Mjolnir tself.

Tavares dazzled the hockey world in the Isles' first round win over Florida. He accounted for nine points in six games capped by an exquisite, series-clinching, wrap-around goal in overtime in Game Six. His performance caused some to anoint him the present king of New York hockey, above King Henrik Lundqvist Himself.

But against the Lightning, forced to face Thor shift after shift, Tavares was defanged and dethroned and registered neither a goal nor an assist after the 8:59 mark of the second period of Game One. Across the course of five games, he managed to get off only ten shots on net.

Thor, on the the other hand, accounted for eight points in the series (four goals and four assists), including the series-winning goal, despite being a defenseman. I don't think I need to say more.


Signs they can go deep
Bishop. See above.

Also as noted above, they have made it this far, in so few games, despite being plagued by the injury bug.

They have won eight of ten playoff games despite having played only one complete game, and that game happens to have been the most recent, which shows they are going in the right direction.

Resilience and outstanding coaching. No matter how hard against the wall their backs may be, the Bolts keep an even keel and remain cool as a cucumber. They rise to and above the moment, rather than allowing the moment to overwhelm them. In this, they take the lead from Coach Jon Cooper and crash the net with it. There is no one else I would rather have leading my team.

Like I already said back on April 22nd, their penalty kill is to penalty killing what Prince was to music.


Signs they can't go deep
They have played ten playoff games and managed only one, perhaps two, complete games. That ain't gonna cut it if grasping the Holy Grail is your goal.

They always start slow.

They are always in the penalty box multiple times in the first period.

Their passes are seldom crisp until the third period rolls around.


But...
...we are in the ECF for the second year in a row and third in the past six; and while there are many logical reasons that either the Pens or Caps will be favored over us in the ECF, there are a few logical reasons to tab us the favorite.

Bring it on. I am temporarily satisfied.

Go Bolts!

First One Won & Done

My last two very late nights -- or maybe I should say my last two very early mornings -- have been spent writing a post about my thoughts concerning the Trump terror phenomenon (it's bad) and Harriet Tubman replacing Andrew Jackson on the twenty (it's good). Right now I should probably be finishing it.

But I just got done watching my Tampa Bay Lightning chuck aside the Detroit Red Wings and become the first NHL team to advance past the first round of the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs. So I am going to write about them instead, even though I won't finish writing this tonight (at least not to my anal retentive standards for hitting the "publish" button).

In any event, while typing away I am going to be listening to some "Little Red Corvette" and "Raspberry Beret." And, of course, "When Doves Cry." How dare Prince Rogers Nelson, aka Prince, die an untimely death this morning? I remember girls singing "Purple Rain" outside the walls of the late, great Riviera Middle School in '84 and '85, and I remember half the bus on the way to our eighth grade field trip to Disney World doing the same. The flesh-and-blood that created a big chunk of the soundtrack of my youth just got ripped away from the world, and I am not ok with that.

But before I get sidetracked, let me get back to hockey...

Bish

I've already written why Lightning goalie Ben Bishop deserves the Vezina. Tonight he proved it even more.

One of the things needed for a team to win the Stanley Cup is for its goalie to steal a game or two that it really shouldn't win. Until tonight the Bolts hadn't gotten that this post-season, but now they have.

The Wings dominated each of the first two periods but especially the second, when they notched six breakaways by my count, yet Bishop stopped 'em all. At the end of two, Detroit had 16 scoring chances to the Lightning's six, yet the score was tied at zero all because of Bishop. Not only did he turn shots away, he also played the puck like a forward, situationally stickhandling it away from the net and passing to teammates to keep it away from the Wings.

One round into the playoffs, he has a 1.61 GAA and .950 save percentage... This is only his second trip to the post-season, yet for his career he already has four post-season shutouts and three of them have been series-enders... He has given up two or fewer goals in 10 of his last 11 post-season games... Money. That's what he is.

Kuch

Nikita Kucherov did not score last night (I told you I wouldn't finish this the same night I started) but so what?

In the five games the Bolts have played these playoffs, he's tallied eight points and had two multi-goal games. Even though his career is still nascent (he's 22 and this is only his third season) he has rung up 31 points (16, 15) in 33 playoff games. And let's not forget that his first NHL goal came on his first shot, in his first shift, against none other than Henrik Lundqvist.

Kucherov has one of the quickest releases I've ever seen. Hell, Phil Esposito says it's one of the quickest he has ever seen. Four of his five goals in Round One came from the right circle on lasers that moved so fast they looked rapid even in slow motion. Being a lefty with a shot like that makes the right circle Kucherov's province, and he was so dominant from there against Detroit that from now on I might stop calling it the right circle and instead call it "The Kucherov."


Drouin
It's impossible to opine about the Detroit series without opining about the stellar job Jonathan Drouin has done in redeeming himself after the debacle which was the last half of his regular season.

In case you don't know, that debacle involved him demanding to be traded despite his youth and relative lack of production, then being demoted to Syracuse, then failing to report to Syracuse, then being suspended indefinitely until he finally ate crow and reported after a phone call to GM Steve Yzerman.

I'm trying to keep this post from becoming too long, so I will limit my Drouin comments to two things:

First, as impressive as his four-assist production has been -- and three of those four assists were highlight-reel creme de la creme set-ups -- I am most impressed by the way he is hitting people and showing the kind of piss and vinegar that is required for playoff success. He has made mistakes, including a few bad turnovers, but he is also proving he is more than willing to work hard and that he is worthy of people believing he can be a cornerstone.

Second, because the Lightning's skaters were so awful in Game Five, I have to point out that Drouin was not. He was one of only two skaters (the other being fourth-liner Valdislav Namestnikov) who showed jump and oomph throughout the whole game. (Apparently there was some flu going around the locker room that affected several players last night, but still...)


Signs they can go deep
For starters, see the above. Bishop is an elite goaltender and Kucherov is an elite sniper.

Also, Tyler Johnson again proved he is clutch and that his eye-popping performance in last year's playoffs was no fluke. He did that by scoring two third period goals to win Game Two.

The Bolts as a whole, and especially Ryan Callahan, are willing to sacrifice their bodies by blocking shots before they get to Bishop.

Valtteri Filppula is superb at the little things that make all the difference without ever appearing on the stat sheet.

The Bolts' penalty kill is to penalty killing what Prince was to music.

Their deep run last year gave them all the playoff experience they need.

Jon Cooper is one of the best coaches walking Planet Earth. There is literally nobody else I would rather have coaching my team.


Signs they can't go deep
Although they put the Wings away in five, which is good, the Bolts were outplayed in two of the five games.

Their defensive depth is shaky. Victor Hedman and Anton Stralman are one of the best top-pairing defense combos in the game, but Stralman remains sidelined by the fractured fibula he suffered three weeks ago; and when you get below them on the depth chart, Jason Garrison is the only D'man whose defensive acumen strikes genuine fear in the hearts of opponents.

Ten of their twelve goals against Detroit were scored by guys who play on their top playoff line. You definitely can't win the Cup (and probably can't make a deep run) if you don't get points "down-roster" from lower lines. Stars often cancel each other out, causing a situation in which the unsung guys are the ones who make the difference in a series; and so far, where points are concerned, the Lightning's unsung guys have not shown any reason to remove them from the ranks of the unsung (and the same is true even for their second line).

As good as it felt to eliminate the Wings for the second year in a row, there is a very legit question concerning how big an accomplishment that is. The Wings' roster is talented but aging, and they have now failed to get past the first round in four of the last five seasons.

And, finally, the Bolts are frustratingly inconsistent.


But...
...I am temporarily satisfied.

Advancing in the playoffs is always good and I am going to enjoy this until the next round starts. Go Bolts!

Much more thrill than agony

For the Tampa Bay Lightning, the 2013-14 season ended in the first round of the playoffs. With Vezina finalist Ben Bishop sidelined by injury, they lost four straight games to Montreal and suffered the ignominy of a sweep.

A whole season and post-season have since passed without the Bolts experiencing another four-game losing streak. In fact, they did not even experience a three-game losing streak until Games Four through Six of the Stanley Cup Finals, when the dynastic Chicago Blackhawks edged past them to wipe out their 2-1 series lead and make them finish as runners-up rather than champs.

Now that the 2014-15 season is over, we know it was not only a major step forward but also the second-best season in franchise history. With that said and more than a week having passed since we felt the bitter sting of our team coming up short in its quest to win the Cup, it is time to take a look back and appreciate what we witnessed.

*     *     *     *     *

The goal of every athlete is to win his sport's ultimate championship and the dream of every sports fan is to see his team reach that pinnacle. But dreams aside, some fans have, shall we say, a complicated relationship with reality; and all fans must temper their dreams with those cursed buggers known as "expectations."

Fortunately, most of us Lightning fans are knowledgeable about our team and the NHL at large, and those who are new to the fold are quick studies. Remembering the whimper of last year's early exit, our initial hope was simply that the Bolts improve; specifically, that they improve by advancing past the first round, which had not happened in these parts since 2011.

When the playoffs began and we looked at the Bolts' maturation from last year and outstanding performance across the course of the regular season, we knew they were among the six or seven teams that had a legitimate chance to win it all. After all, their 50 wins and 108 points were both franchise records, exceeding the marks set by the 2003-04 squad that won both the Stanley Cup and President's Cup.

However, we also knew that these Bolts were extremely young (with 15 players age 25 or younger) and thin on championship experience (with only one player having ever played on a Cup-winning team).  We knew that as a unit, they had yet to win a single playoff game, and that Ben Bishop had yet to even appear in a playoff game. Finally, we knew their team defense remained their primary weakness even though it was improved compared to 2013-14... And so we chewed our bottom lips with realistic fear even as we daydreamed with realistic hope. We kept reminding ourselves that if the Bolts advanced, we would consider the season to be a success and the sky to be the limit.

With that in mind, this season was not only a success but a rousing one. In the final game of the regular season, the 2014-15 Bolts avenged the 2010-11 Bolts' Game Seven loss in the Eastern Conference Finals by defeating the Boston Bruins to keep them out of the post-season... Then they advanced past the first round by overcoming a 3-2 series deficit to the Red Wings and shutting them out in Game Seven... Then they advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals by discarding the Montreal Canadiens and Carey Price, who is reputed to be the best goaltender on the planet... Then they won the Eastern Conference and advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals by discarding the New York Rangers, who not only had the best record in the NHL but also had Henrik Lundqvist, who is reputed to be the clutchest goaltender on the planet.

Plus, by eliminating the Rangers the Lightning: 1) prevented Martin Iscariot St. Louis from winning a Cup at their expense, and 2) became the first NHL team ever to vanquish three Original Six franchises in a single post-season.

Along that road to the finals, Ben Bishop became only the third goalie in NHL history to record two Game Seven shutouts in a single post-season. The Bolts ended what was arguably the most legendary streak in sports by becoming the first team in the Rangers' 88-year history to defeat them on their own ice in a Game Seven. And they also ended Lundqvist's much ballyhooed streak of six straight Game Seven victories.

They played better with each passing round even though they faced a tougher foe each time... Their team defense improved dramatically and became a strength rather than the weakness it was thought to be at the end of the regular season... Their top defensive pairing of Victor Hedman and Anton Stralman emerged as arguably the best in the league... And their second forward line -- the so-called Triplets Line of Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat, and Nikita Kucherov -- emerged as arguably the best in all of hockey.

Jon Cooper, who no one had heard of a couple years ago, became universally regarded as one of the NHL's best coaches and the face of its coaching future.

In the same vein, the Lightning became universally regarded as a bold organization that trusts its people and is unafraid to buck conventional wisdom.

Them ain't bad apples if you ask me, and they're a far cry from the rotten ones that plagued the organization before it was bought by Jeff Vinik.

*     *     *     *     *

We should appreciate how many highlights there were during the playoff run.

Against the Red Wings, there was the pile on rout in Game Two and the exhilarating rally to pull out Game Four in overtime... There was the great play (and harbinger of things to come) that ended Game Four when Victor Hedman exploded down the right side, drew Petr Mrazek out of the crease, then feathered a cross-ice pass to Tyler Johnson for the winner... There was the beautiful, stunned silence that fell on Joe Louis Arena when Johnson's winner went in... There was Ben Bishop rising to the occasion in Game Seven, willing the Bolts to victory by pitching a shutout when they were outshot 31-17... There was Braydon Coburn scoring the Game Seven winner from the top of the circle, 3:58 into the third, when he one-timed Ryan Callahan's pass high and inside the opposite post while Mrazek desperately scrambled to the near one.

That series showed the Bolts were unafraid of adversity, that they could withstand the hottest of pressure cookers and come out on top... It showed that despite their youth, they could defeat a playoff-seasoned veteran squad loaded with championship experience... It showed they could do all of those things even when Steven Stamkos, the NHL's second-leading scorer in the regular season, went the whole series without putting the puck in the net... But perhaps most memorably, the series featured Johnson's arrival as an electrifying star that the entire hockey world knows about.

Against the entitled revered Habs, there was that stupendous six-goal outburst in Game Two, with the power play finally breaking out with four goals and Stamkos finally scoring on this breakaway against Carey Price... There was Tyler Johnson scoring with 1.1 second left in Game Three, using one move of his stick to break an NHL record and give the Bolts a 3-0 series lead... On that goal, there was Victor Hedman again with the assist, from all the way down in the corner of the offensive zone as if he was a forward rather than a defenseman... And there was Stamkos asserting his authority by unleashing this wrister to beat Price on what proved to be the series-winner in Game Six.

That series showed that Round One was no fluke. It showed that the Bolts were not intimidated by goaltending excellence. It showed they had what it takes to keep getting better even as they got deeper into the playoffs. And as Johnson recorded five points at Montreal's expense, it showed that his stellar play versus Detroit was not an anomaly.

Against destiny's supposed child (a.k.a. the 2014-15 New York Rangers) there were the fireworks of hanging six goals on Henrik Lundqvist not once, but twice, and in back-to-back games at that... There was the Triplets Line befuddling Lundqvist so much that he seemed ready to throw in the towel with his comments immediately following Game Three... There was Johnson notching a natural hat trick in Game Two, by virtue of a short-handed goal on a 3-on-5 penalty kill, followed by a picture perfect top-shelfer off a power play feed from Stamkos, followed by this greasy even-strengther on which the diminutive centerman prevailed in a multi-player goalmouth bang-up... Then there was Nikita Kucherov defying conventional wisdom to win Game Three in overtime, when, as his linemates went off for a line change, he charged down the ice, skated across the Rangers' blueline, used a backpedaling defenseman as a screen, and rifled a wrist shot so fast that it made it from the point to the back of the net before Lundqvist had a chance to react... And, there was a Crimson-on-Crimson goal to win the series when Alex Killorn (Tampa Bay's Harvard grad) circled atop the crease while being defended by Dominic Moore (New York's Harvard grad) and somehow managed to slip the puck through Lundqvist's five hole.

That series proved that... well, there really wasn't much left to prove as far as the Lightning belonging in the NHL's elite, but the series proved it anyway. It showed that they were not intimated by reputation and history. Prior to Game Seven, when Stamkos was asked about Lundqvist's six-game winning streak in Game Sevens, he made our hearts pound with pride and confidence by answering that "he's a great goaltender, but he's never played the Tampa Bay Lightning in a Game Seven before."

Then came the Stanley Cup Finals, and although the ultimate outcome wasn't what we wanted, those finals still provided moments that I remember only with a smile. There was Nikita Kucherov deftly redirecting Jason Garrison's shot past Corey Crawford to even Game Two just 92 seconds after Chicago had taken the lead... Later in the same game, there was Garrison scoring the winner (off an assist from Hedman, of course) some five minutes after Chicago tied it on a goal that should have been disallowed because of goaltender interference... There was Cedric Paquette completing a third period comeback to win Game Three, by knocking in a perfect centering feed that came, of course, from Hedman... There was 20-year-old rookie netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy, playing Game Four when Ben Bishop was injured and performing so well that he looked like an unflappable veteran... There was Johnson playing most of the series with a broken wrist, Bishop playing much of it with a torn groin, and Kucherov returning for Game Six after absorbing this excruciating collarbone cracker in Game Five.

Unfortunately for us, Crawford shut the door in Games Four through Six and played every bit the role of Jacques Plante or Martin Brodeur, turning aside seemingly every Lightning chance and overturning the fact that the Lightning played more than well enough to win. If you've watched enough hockey, you know that in a situation like that there really isn't a damn thing you can do.

*     *     *     *     *

There is no point in playing the "what if" game. On the one hand it rejects reality because it seeks to ignore or deny what actually happened. On the other, it is blind to the fact that both sides can play "what if" with equal legitimacy. If a Bolts fan gripes that Stamkos missed a partially open net in the waning seconds of Game Four that would have forced overtime, a 'Hawks fan could just as easily gripe that Marian Hossa missed an entirely open net in Game Three that might have changed its outcome.

Nonetheless, I am writing this from a Tampa Bay point of view so I am going to indulge my feelings and ignore what my rational brain tells me to acknowledge.

If Stamkos had gotten that puck into the net, the Bolts likely would have prevailed in overtime -- which would have given them a 3-1 series lead, which would have probably led to them winning the Cup.

If Ryan Callahan had converted his breakaway opportunity late in Game One, which came less than two minutes before Chicago tied it up, then Chicago's comeback likely wouldn't have happened -- in which case the Bolts: 1) would have headed north with a 2-0 series lead instead of a 1-1 tie; 2) would have held a commanding 3-0 series lead after Paquette's Game Three winner; and 3) almost certainly would have won the Cup... For that matter, if Callahan had converted and Stamkos had scored into the partially open net in Game Four, the Bolts probably would have swept the Blackhawks.

If Ben Bishop hadn't inexplicably done this when Game Five was tied at zero, the Bolts might have gotten the crucial first goal and won the game -- in which case they would have entered Game Six leading the series 3-2 instead of trailing it 3-2.

But like Stephen King once wrote, "If is the only word a thousand letters long."

*     *     *     *     *

It is impossible to look back at the 2015 playoff run without wondering what it might portend for the future, so here I go a-wondering.

We are blessed to have just one unrestricted free agent, and even more blessed by the fact that that UFA is the sadly unproductive Brenden Morrow. Given Jon Cooper's belief in his players and trust in his youngsters, next season's Bolts should look very much like this season's, and that is a decidedly good thing.

It is when we get beyond next season that things get "interesting" from a roster perspective. Stamkos will become a UFA unless Yzerman signs him to an extension before then (which I believe Yzerman will do).

The Triplets will start becoming restricted free agents. Since they are all bargains at their current salaries, they are sure to receive big offers from other clubs.

Hedman will be a UFA after two more seasons. By then he will deserve the salary of a Norris Trophy winner regardless of whether he has received the award.

Callahan will be thirtysomething, and given his injurious style of play, will he still be effective?

The most "interesting" scenario regards Ben Bishop, who is slated to become a UFA after next season. Because he was a Vezina finalist last year and almost won the Cup this year, he will command a lot of money unless he has a major drop-off in 2015-16.

Given Andrei Vasilevskiy's otherworldly talent and how well he has played in relief of Bishop -- and given the significant upside of third-stringer Kristers Gudlevskis -- the Lightning will be faced with a migraine-inducing, crossroads of a decision: Do they keep a playoff-proven upper tier goalie, in which case they will be forced to part with other key contributors because there just isn't enough room under the salary cap? Or do they part ways with him in order to have enough cap room to re-sign some of their other stars, which means they must turn the goaltending keys over to a couple of guys in their early twenties who have never gone through the rigors of starting a full season in the NHL?

Does Cooper give Vasilevskiy more starts next season, in order to provide the organization with more info on which to base its decision? If Yzerman finds himself leaning towards letting Bishop walk, does he deal him to another team at the trade deadline so that he gets something in return, something like a quality fifth or sixth defenseman?

Yes, the business side of hockey sucks. But the business side of hockey is part of the reality of hockey, and every winning team has to deal with it.

Fortunately, we have outstanding ownership and outstanding management, and I believe they will maintain this team's core and keep the Lightning among the league's handful of contenders for a long time.

Still, the window of opportunity is now open. Here's hoping that the Lightning are able to proceed through it, and that they proceed through it sooner rather than later.

Actually, I hope they do so both sooner and later.

Go Bolts!

All Rounds Done

Some thoughts about the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs, now that they have come to an end:

Finalist Feelings

For me and my fellow Lightning fans, there is a feeling of emptiness over opportunity lost. We have great memories of the first three rounds and even some fond memories from the finals, but right now they are overshadowed by our team's losses in Games Five and Six. It took 11 years for the Bolts to get back to the finals after winning the Cup in 2004, and although we know the future looks extremely bright, we are also aware that that does not automatically mean it will be bright... But perhaps we are being too self-indulgent, for the way we feel right now is nothing compared to the way our players feel... Fortunately, at least for myself, the positive memories of this post-season are already starting to percolate back to the surface.

Conversely, Chicago fans are elated and should be. My team was good enough to beat theirs, but theirs was the better team by a small margin, so the end result was appropriate... By winning three of the last six Cups and coming oh so close to reaching last year's finals, this group of Blackhawks will go down in history and stands as the truest dynasty of the entire post-Oilers (not merely post-cap) era... Plus, the main players who comprise its core are still in their prime. Although the team has cap issues to address during the off-season, its GM has proven capable in that area before, and therefore a fourth Cup remains attainable.

Quality

The finals did not go seven and the decisive tilt did not go to overtime, so I won't succumb to hyperbole by calling them the greatest finals of all time. I will, however, attest that they were one of the best of the last quarter-century, and that they should be talked about for years to come.

Both teams moved the puck with precision and found open ice to skate, despite solid hits being dished out... Going into the decisive Game Six, the shots were dead even and the teams were only one apart in scoring chances... Also going into that game, for the first time ever, the first five had all been decided by one goal... Defensemen Duncan Keith and Victor Hedman were virtuosos in all three zones... Both starting goalies had moments of brilliance and moments of vulnerability throughout the first five games, and both played outstanding in the decider -- although a 20-year-old backup, Tampa Bay's Andrei Vasilevskiy, started Game Four and played so well he could have passed for a #1 with championship experience... Ben Bishop played with a torn groin; Tyler Johnson with a broken wrist; Johnny Oduya with a torn elbow; Kris Versteeg with unspecified problems related to his previously repaired right knee; and others (most notably Nikita Kucherov and Marcus Kruger) with a variety of undisclosed bang-ups... Also, the series was evenly officiated and not overly officiated.

The Difference

At the proverbial end of the day, it came down to a couple of things. Actually, it came down to five:

1) The 'Hawks were much better on faceoffs, outdueling the Bolts 217-143.

2) Tampa Bay's lower-rung defensemen committed fatal errors, especially this one by Andrej Sustr on what proved to be the Cup-winning goal, whereas Chicago's lower-rungers weren't given a chance to commit such errors because Joel Quenneville rarely put them on the ice.

3) When the finish line was in sight, Patrick Kane rose to the occasion and Steven Stamkos did not -- as evidenced by the former notching a goal and assist in Game Six while the latter came up empty on two golden opportunities. Stamkos finished the series with 21 scoring chances, of which he converted a grand total of zero.

4) When the finish line was in sight, Corey Crawford played like the two-time champion he is; while Ben Bishop, despite playing very well overall, in Game Five committed one of the worst blunders I've ever witnessed. I am one of the legion who entered the post-season thinking of Crawford as an average talent who was blessed to be backstopping a star-studded roster; but after the way he shut the door in Games Four through Six, I have to acknowledge that he's one of the top netminders in the league.

5) Ultimately, Chicago's abundance of championship experience proved to make a difference.

Tearjerker #1

I despise it when TV coverage of the Olympics gets so larded with human interest schmaltz that the actual sports get neglected. Nonetheless, human interest stories do have an important place in the sports world and there were several in play during the Stanley Cup Finals. Chief among them was the case of Kimmo Timonen.

Timonen was born 40 years ago in Kuopio, Finland, and was drafted by the Los Angeles Kings at the age of 18. For five years he continued to play in Finland rather than venture over to this side of the Atlantic, but after the Kings traded his rights to the first-year Nashville Predators in 1998, he decided to make the jump.

He then embarked on an admirable career as one of the NHL's best blueliners, and when the 2006-07 season rolled around and he was 31 years old, Timonen became the Predators' captain and registered career highs in both points and assists. However, the team never advanced beyond the first round of the playoffs while he was there.

Following that 2006-07 campaign, he was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers, with whom he eventually signed a contract making him the highest-paid Finn in the league. Timonen experienced more playoff success in Philly than in Nashville, yet the ultimate prize eluded him. The Flyers reached the 2010 Cup finals only to be eliminated in six games by, interestingly enough, the Blackhawks. Meanwhile, between 1998 and 2006, Timonen played for Team Finland in five different international tournaments in which they finished second, never managing to come in first (one Olympics silver, one World Cup runners-up, and three World Championships silvers).

Last August, while preparing for this season that just ended, he was diagnosed with blood clots in both lungs and in his right leg. The potentially fatal condition caused him to miss the first 62 games of the 82-game regular season. On February 27th -- one day before he was scheduled to return to the ice and 19 days before his 40th birthday -- he was traded to the defensively shallow Blackhawks for a pair of draft picks. That departure from Philly came right on the heels of him having won three consecutive (and five total) Barry Ashbee Trophies, which are awarded annually to the Flyers' top defenseman. With 270 points in 519 games with that franchise, he ranks as the third-most productive defenseman in its history.

Aware of Father Time and the dangers of his diagnosis, Timonen decided it was time to retire; but because he is competitive and understands the harsh realities of sports legacies, he elected to keep playing until the season was over. Speaking to Frank Seravallie of the Philadelphia Daily News on the day he was traded, he remarked that "the only thing I am missing is the Stanley Cup. It became my only goal to return to hockey. If I had won a Stanley Cup before, we probably wouldn't be having this conversation."

Monday night, after 17 years in the league, Kimmo Timonen lifted the silver chalice over his head as an NHL champion. His name will soon be etched onto one of the Cup's pedestal rings and remain there for eternity. At some future date that will probably not come until after he has been laid to rest in the shadow of the Arctic Circle, that ring will be removed from the Cup's pedestal and retired in the Hockey Hall of Fame. If that doesn't make you smile, nothing will.

Tearjerker #2

The case of Brenden Morrow presents a decidedly different kind of tearjerker.

The Dallas Stars capped the 1998-99 season -- the one before Morrow joined them as a rookie -- by winning the Stanley Cup. In his rookie season of 1999-2000, the Stars returned to the finals but fell to New Jersey. On Monday, asked about that long-ago near-miss, Morrow said: "I don't remember 15 years ago. I was just young and dumb and thought it was going to happen every time."

I probably don't need to tell you that he never made it back to the finals during the intervening decade and a half. He became a reliable and productive forward who attained career peaks during the seasons of 2007-08 (32 goals, 42 assists) and 2010-11 (33 goals).

Morrow's career in Dallas was long. He remained there until March 2013, when he was traded to Pittsburgh. After his contract expired at the end of that season, he moved on to sign a one-year deal with St. Louis for 2013-14, after which he signed a one-year contract with Tampa Bay for 2014-15. Ostensibly, neither Pittsburgh nor St. Louis was interested in bringing him back.

As we all know, this 2014-15 season saw Tampa Bay reach the Stanley Cup Finals and bring Morrow full circle from his rookie year. But sadly, because the Bolts fell just short in the finals, his 2014-15 ended just like his 1999-2000. 

Abetted by injuries during the 2011-12 campaign, Father Time has taken an inevitable toll on the game of this 36-year-old from Saskatchewan, for he is a far cry from the player he once was. Just four years removed from that career-best 33-goal season in Dallas, this year he scored a mere three goals while toiling away on Tampa Bay's fourth line. The fight and effort are still there, but the legs simply don't move as fast and his stickwork has eroded. Morrow's contributions to the Bolts were as someone who mostly levels hits and scraps for pucks in limited playing time.

During these playoffs he made a number of good hits for the Lightning, but also committed glaring errors. There were turnovers and there was a very bad penalty, though I don't recall exactly what it was or in which game it occurred. That's an ominous sign when you are playing few minutes, are long in the tooth, and your contract expires at season's end.

That "I was young and dumb" remark was uttered by Morrow in the Lightning locker room while the Blackhawks celebrated with the Cup elsewhere in the building. He then added another sentence: "Now, I'm not sure if this is it, or if I'll get another opportunity." It was not one hundred percent clear if he was talking about another opportunity to play for the Cup, or another opportunity to play professional hockey at all. Most likely, he was thinking of both.

And with that...

...I will sign off for now and move on to pen my salute to the 2014-15 Lightning, which I will probably publish sometime next week.

But first, thanks to the Korea Times, I am able to refer you over to the greatest headline since "Dewey Defeats Truman."

Until next time, farewell...

Three Rounds In

Some thoughts about the Stanley Cup Playoffs, now that the first three rounds are in the books and we are down to the Tampa Bay Lightning and Chicago Blackwaks duking it out for the most hallowed trophy in all of sports:

About those predictions
I don't mean to toot my own horn, but back on April 15th, before the playoffs started, I wrote that "whoever wins the first round series between Nashville and Chicago will go on to represent the Western Conference in the SCF." In that same post, I wrote that "this year's champion will come from the East."

The first of those predictions has come true, and now that we know this year's Eastern Conference representative is my very own Tampa Bay Lightning, I am desperately hoping the second one comes true as well -- and, I am nervously remembering that plenty of the other things I wrote in that April 15th post have since, shall we say, turned out to have been less than spot on.

Finally, since my status as a Lightning partisan has never been a secret, let me affirm that the rest of today's post will be written objectively.


Who to pull for

Obviously, I think everyone outside of the Windy City should be cheering for the Lightning. However, in the interest of that objectivity I just mentioned, here are some legitimate reasons to pull for either team:

Chicago -- Dynasty. Everyone claims to hate dynasties, but they inject more good than bad into the sporting world and we rarely see them anymore. If the Blackhawks prevail, this will be their third Stanley Cup in six seasons and all of them will have been won with the same core of stars and same head coach. It would make them the closest we have seen to an NHL dynasty since the Edmonton Oilers of the 1980's... Also, it would mean that Joel Quenneville has three times as many Stanley Cups as Mike Babcock... And, it would mean that classy, aging veterans Brad Richards and Marian Hossa get their names carved on the Cup another time while they are still playing the game as good as the whippersnappers who surround them.

Tampa Bay -- Underdog. We North Americans (I'm talking hockey here, people) have it in our DNA to pull for the little guy who is just as good as everyone else but never gets his due respect. The fact that the Lightning are considered long shots to beat the Blackhawks, despite having a better record and having gone 1-0-1 against them this season, shows they fit that mold... Plus, a Lightning victory would mean that Jon Cooper has just as many Stanley Cups as Mike Babcock despite coaching barely more than two seasons in the NHL... And, it would mean that the Lightning won it all by knocking off four Original Six teams on their march through the postseason.


Nice things about this match-up
These teams have more quality depth at the forward positions than any of the NHL's other 28 franchises.

Chicago has gotten more points during the playoffs from its third and fourth lines than Tampa Bay has from its third and fourth; however, Tampa Bay's top two lines have been the best top two in the league during the playoffs.

Both teams advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals by winning Game Sevens, on the road, versus the top-seeded team in their respective conferences.

This match-up features the postseason's top two points producers (Tampa Bay's Tyler Johnson with 21 and Chicago's Patrick Kane with 20)... Taking that matter further, it also features three of the top five; four of the top six; and six of the top ten... And as for that "six of the top ten" thing, the six are divided evenly with three from each team.

When it comes to defense, Chicago's Duncan Keith is 31 years old, still in his prime, and probably the best all-around defenseman in the league... Meanwhile, Tampa Bay's Victor Hedman is 24 years old, just entering his prime, and probably the best play-making defenseman in the league.

The Lightning have the NHL's #1 offense and the Blackhawks have the NHL's #2 defense, so we get a chance to see a few cliches put to the test, like "defense wins championships" and "a good defense beats a good offense" ... But then again, maybe we don't really get to see them put to the test, since Tampa Bay also plays sound team D and Chicago is dripping with otherworldly offensive talent.


The Goaltenders
It often comes down to goaltending, so it's interesting that Corey Crawford and Ben Bishop are still considered question marks of sorts.

Crawford has a Stanley Cup to his name, yet has never been thought of as one of the elites at his position. Earlier in these playoffs he surrendered so many goals that he was benched in favor of a recovering alcoholic who is playing his first year in the league. Plenty of fans agitated for Crawford to remain on the pine, but eventually he got another chance; proved his doubters wrong; regained his starting role; and went on to perform lights-out in the Western Conference Finals.

Ben Bishop was a Vezina finalist last season and backstopped 40 victories this season, yet few national commentators talked about him as a strength coming into the playoffs... When it comes to his performance in the Eastern Conference Finals, you can make a thumbs down argument by saying that he gave up five goals in three of the last five games; or you can make a thumbs up argument by saying that in two of the last three, he shut out the team which had the best record in the NHL. Either way you would be right... Although I criticized Bishop on Facebook when he surrendered some goals that I thought the likes of Patrick Roy would have stopped, it's a simple fact that he outdueled Carey Price and Henrik Lundqvist in back to back series. It's also a fact that he has pitched shutouts in two Game Sevens during this single postseason, which puts him in high cotton because only two other goalies in history have done the same: Patrick Roy and Tim Thomas.

Looking at their numbers side by side, Bishop's save percentage during these playoffs is .920 while Crawford's is .919... Bishop's goals-against average is 2.15 while Crawford's is 2.56... As noted above, they both prevailed in the conference finals by winning Game Sevens on the road against the top-seeded team in their conference... Bishop has three shutouts while Crawford has one, with Bishop's most recent shutout serving to end one of the most legendary streaks in sports (the one in which the New York Rangers have had never lost a Game Seven on home ice in their 89-year history)... And here is a weird stat: Bishop recorded three assists during the Eastern Conference Finals, including one on Ondrej Palat's third period goal that put Game Seven on ice by making the score 2-0.

When it comes to skaters the Chicago Blackhawks might have an edge over the Tampa Bay Lightning, but when it comes to goaltending, the Lightning appear to have an edge.


Prediction
As noted in the first section of this post, I already made a prediction back when we didn't know who the Eastern Conference representative would be... On principle, I refuse to change it... Emotionally, I am terrified about not changing it because I am not 100% certain that jinxes aren't real... But what the hell:  Go Bolts!


Class

I am a bit of an outlier amongst my fellow Americans, in that I have never believed New York sports fans are assholes. On Friday they proved me right, and I have to give props to Rangers fans for the way they reacted after the Lightning eliminated their team last Friday.

Rather than disparage the Rangers for not delivering the Stanley Cup to Manhattan when they were expected to do so -- and rather than boo the visiting Lightning that had just vanquished their team on its own ice -- the faithful who remained in the building saluted their netminder by chanting "Henrik! Henrik!" It was a magnanimous move if ever I have seen one. Henrik Lundqvist played one helluva game with little support from his forward lines and no support from anyone when it came to putting points on the board.

Lundvist cannot be expected to pitch a shutout just to get a tie. He cannot be made solely responsible for an entire team's success and an entire city's satisfaction. Yes, goaltenders willingly take on a disproportionate share of the credit and blame for their team's successes and failures. Still, they should not be looked upon to do everything in a team sport. The New Yorkers in Madison Square Garden on Friday knew that. They recognized what a valiant effort Lundqvist put up, and they made sure he knew they recognized it. It was a class act done by a fan base to support a class act of a player, and it deserves to be acknowledged.

Two Rounds In

Some thoughts about the Stanley Cup Playoffs, now that the first two rounds are in the books:

MVP Talk

We've seen enough to start speculating about which players are making a case to win the Conn Smythe Trophy, and since it goes without saying that the Cup-winner's goaltender often has the inside lane, here are my thoughts about which non-goalie from each team is most deserving so far.

Anaheim:  Corey Perry. He leads all players in playoff points with 15 (seven goals, eight assists) despite his team having taken the fewest games to get this far. After appearing to play injured for much of Game Five against Calgary, he scored the OT goal that clinched the series and propelled the Ducks to the conference finals for the first time since they won the Cup eight years ago.

Chicago:  Patrick Kane. It might seem too easy to pick a team's highest profile and most glamorous offensive star, especially when the roster includes quite possibly the NHL's best defenseman of the last five years, but Patrick Kane is absolutely the correct pick. He has notched 13 points and sparkplugged the 'Hawks to an average of 3.2 goals per game, despite the fact that Game One of the opening round was the first game he had played since breaking his collarbone two months before.

New York:  Dan Girardi. If you've watched a Rangers game this post-season, you have probably noticed how often Girardi's name gets mentioned, for it seems like this scrappy defenseman does something effective every second he's on the ice. He has racked up 48 blocked shots and 29 hits while going +5 -- a crucial number when you consider that all 12 games have been decided by a single goal and that his team is averaging only 2.0 goals per game. Plus, he has chipped in offensively with four assists and been to the penalty box only once. 

Tampa Bay:  Tyler Johnson. He lit the league on fire with six goals in the first round against Detroit, including the one which sparked a late comeback in Game Four, plus the OT winner in that same game... Oh, and he also assisted on the tying goal which forced that game to OT... In the second round, he set the stage for the Lightning's Game One win by redirecting Matt Carle's shot past Carey Price for the opening goal; then, in Game Three, set an NHL record by scoring the winning goal with just 1.1 seconds remaining.

The Goalies

Of the four netminders still standing, only Corey Crawford has won a Cup yet it feels like he's the least reliable of the bunch. The Eastern Conference seems to have a distinct advantage at this position, with Henrik Lundqvist being Henrik Lundqvist and Ben Bishop having skyrocketed his save percentage to .931 after it being only .904 at the start of Game Seven versus Detroit -- which is to say, I am sticking with my pre-playoff prediction that this year's champion will come from the East.

Something about Lundqvist: While it would be easy to say "the king is the king" or "he is the calmest goaltender I've ever seen" and leave it at that, I cannot resist the temptation to point out some of his sickeningly good numbers. In elimination games at Madison Square Garden, he is 10-0 with a .969 save percentage and 0.87 goals-against average... and he has now won six consecutive Game Sevens -- a feat that no other goalie in history has managed to accomplish... and, eerily, Wednesday night marked the third consecutive May 13th on which he made 35 saves, with each of those 35-save performances coming in a Game Seven victory.

Something about Bishop: He might not look like Ron Hextall out there, but his stick-handling is every bit as good as the old Flyer who made stick-handling by goalies acceptable. Bishop often triggers offensive rushes by completing tape-to-tape passes to his forwards as they turn to head up the ice; and by handling the puck so well, he keeps opposing teams from forechecking and thereby makes it harder for them to establish themselves in the Lightning zone. 

The Defensemen

Defensively, Chicago's Duncan Keith is, like I said above, "quite possibly the NHL's best defenseman of the last five years." Offensively, he has put up ten points during these playoffs, which is more than all but seven forwards have put up. When it comes to plus/minus he leads every player in the playoffs with a mark of +10, the next closest being Perry and Kane at +8.

Although Tampa Bay's Victor Hedman does not get as much press as Keith, PK Subban, Erik Karlsson, et al, he has been almost perfect this post-season. The second overall pick in 2009, this 24-year-old Swede has owned the blueline, made no mistakes that I can remember, and also contributed mightily on offense. Hedman assisted on Johnson's overtime winner in Game Four against Detroit and on Johnson's buzzer-beating winner in Game Three against Montreal; in both cases, he carried the puck down the ice and passed it directly to Johnson's stick blade, in stride.

Coaching Contrast

I do not have a problem with Type A coaching personalities. When it comes to sports, I am Type A myself. However, reflecting on the Tampa Bay-Montreal series, I can say with absolute certainty that I would rather my team be coached by someone like Jon Cooper than someone like Michel Therrien.

I'm sure that Cooper's pulse rises during games just like mine and every other fan's does, yet he keeps his keel even and does not lose composure. He keeps his focus. And by osmosis, his players do the same.

Therrien, on the other hand, fulminates and throws tantrums and makes excuses. He loses his focus and forgets what he needs to do. And by osmosis, his players do the same.

Storylines

Marketing people should be drooling over the many prisms through which they can present the Eastern Conference Final.

For starters, each team has several players that spent part of their careers with the other. The Rangers have Martin St. Louis and Dan Boyle, both of whom won the Stanley Cup when they played for the Lightning in 2004 and are now in the twilight of their careers. The Rangers also feature Dominic Moore, a centerman who played a starring role for the Lightning when they made it to the ECF in 2011 and pushed the eventual Cup champions to a seventh game before being eliminated by a single goal... Meanwhile, Tampa Bay has former Rangers Ryan Callahan, Anton Stralman, and Brian Boyle... There is the interesting matter of St. Louis being Tampa Bay's captain and Callahan being New York's captain when they were traded for each other hours before the trade deadline in 2014... And there is the "don't keep me off the ice" matter of Callahan returning to this series after an emergency appendectomy forced him to miss the decisive Game Six against Montreal... Plus, most movingly, there is the tragic human interest story of Moore having sat out a season to care for his wife Katie, who passed away from liver cancer in January 2013.

But all that is mostly soap opera. On the ice itself, this series features two teams that are based on speed and skill rather than clutching and grabbing; and both made it this far because their speed and skill are spiked with grit, complemented with physicality, and blessed with composure. This has the makings of a good series.


A Bad Rap
Let me first say that I am not an Alexander Ovechkin fan. He dishes out way more than his share of cheap shots and never rarely gets sent to the penalty box for them. When the Lightning played the Caps in the 2011 conference semi-finals, my dislike of him was so strong that I yelled countless F bombs and started calling him a "Soviet."

Nevertheless, I am starting to feel some sympathy for Ovechkin because of the way the media misrepresents his game and his reliability. Although he's been saddled for years with a reputation as a player who fails to deliver in the post-season, the numbers simply do not bear that out. Like I noted in my April 30th post, he began this season having accounted for 66 points in 65 career playoff games.

During this year's playoffs, he chalked up another nine points by virtue of five goals and four assists. Included in that tally was a goal that might stand up as the best of the entire post-season, and a clutch last-second steal and assist to Joel Ward that won Game One against the Rangers. Almost everybody, including his biggest critics, opined that Ovechkin was having the strongest and most impactful playoff campaign of his ten-year career.

Then, when answering questions from reporters following the Caps' Game Six loss on Sunday, he said of Game Seven that "we're going to come back and win the series" -- and after the Caps did not win Game Seven, sports reporters from coast to coast began waxing about how Ovechkin failed to deliver on what they called "his guarantee," and how that failure further cements his legacy as a playoff underachiever.

Almost immediately, those reporters chose to ignore that he played extremely well in Game Seven and was the only Washington player to put the puck in the net against the seemingly invincible Henrik Lundqvist (re-read the above "The Goalies" section if you've already forgotten how rare it is for anyone to score on Lundqvist in elimination games). Almost immediately, reporters and opinion-shapers chose to ignore that outside of Ward and Nicklas Backstrom, Ovechkin does not have much offensive help on his team's roster.

Looking back at his career numbers, with this season included, Ovechkin averages .475 goals per playoff game. That puts him ahead of Phil Esposito and Mark Messier, who averaged .469 and .461 and played in eras when goals were more easy to come by. It puts him way ahead of such luminaries as Pat LaFontaine (.377), Luc Robitaille (.365), Jaromir Jagr (.360), and Steve Yzerman (.357). And among his superstar contemporaries, it puts him in front of Conn Smythe winners Patrick Kane and Henrik Zetterberg (.427 and .424).

So what's the rub? Yeah, Ovechkin's defensive game leaves a lot to be desired, but that is true for many, if not most, prolific scorers. And unlike most prolific scorers, Ovechkin does not shy away from the bone-crunching part of the game. He is a relentless forechecker who deals out more bumps and bruises than he receives, and I don't believe I've ever heard that said about Gretzky, Lemieux, Fedorov, or Lafleur.

The fact of the matter is that Alexander Ovechkin is an outstanding player who has spent his entire career on teams that are far from outstanding, without the kind of supporting cast that is necessary to win a championship. You can accurately call him a number of things that are not flattering -- for example, you can call him a dirty player whose stick handle "accidentally" hits an awful lot of opponents in the face, or a non-champion who has neither a Cup ring nor an Olympic gold to his name -- but if you call him a choker, you have no idea what you're talking about.

One Round In

Some thoughts on the Stanley Cup Playoffs, now that the first round is in the books:

Those Predictions

In my April 15th post I predicted that whoever won the first round series between Nashville and Chicago would go on to represent the Western Conference in the Stanley Cup Finals. I am sticking with that prediction despite the fact that the Blackhawks had to deal with some goaltending vulnerabilities during the series. They did overcome them, after all, and it was eye-popping to see how well Patrick Kane played after missing two months with a broken clavicle.

I also predicted the Cup champion will come from the East, and I'm not changing that one either. The top four seeds all advanced and looked like championship material (although, and I hate to say this, the Lightning had the most question marks of those four teams).

My Lightning Indulgence

Although their seven-game tilt against Detroit featured lots of moments when they were on their heels, Tampa Bay showed tremendous resolve by coming back from a 3-2 series deficit; overcoming a hot goalie and pair of shutout losses; surviving an elimination game on the road; and, finally, chucking the Red Wings in the trash by blanking them last night in Game Seven.

I think I had three or four heart attacks last night, especially after Anton Stralman's late goal, which would have extended their lead to 2-0, was waived off thanks to questionable off-setting penalties being called against Steven Stamkos and Riley Sheahan. But of course, if your cardiac health doesn't get stretched to the limit, you're not watching the Stanley Cup Playoffs -- and when Stralman struck again by banking a length-of-the-ice shot off the side boards and into the empty net with 1:18 remaining, the feeling of hockey jubilation that filled the building was unlike anything we Lightning fans have felt since our team hoisted the Cup in 2004.

Here are the things from Round One that give me reason to believe the Bolts have a chance to win it all: They proved they have character and composure; they managed to use their speed and skill despite running into a big, bruising foe that pushed and sometimes tore the rule book's envelope; their defensive corps was much stronger than during the regular season; they got lots of secondary scoring (e.g., goals from defensemen Stralman, Andrej Sustr, Jason Garrison, and Braydon Coburn, whose top-shelfer at 3:58 of the third proved to be last night's game-winner).

But here are the things from Round One that give me reason to believe the Bolts won't be able to survive all four rounds: They converted only two of their 30 power plays; they were inconsistent; on several occasions, their offense went dead for way too long; Stamkos, despite playing very well in Games One and Seven, was damn near invisible throughout the other five and has yet to score a goal; and, although Ben Bishop was spectacular in goal last night, stopping all 31 shots and boosting his series save percentage to .921, he was subpar through the first six games.

If Bishop continues to play like he did last night, the Lightning have a legitimate chance. If he reverts to the form he showed in Games One through Six, winning the Cup will be impossible.

Miscellany

For quite some time, all the talk about the Capitals' lack of playoff success has been greatly exaggerated. You would never know it without reading the fine print, but their win over the Islanders on Monday was their third Game Seven triumph of the Alex Ovechkin era; and contrary to what conventional wisdom would have you believe, Ovechkin has had a very productive playoff career with 66 points in his 65 post-season games... But having said that, there is something different about this year's Caps because they seem to relish the chance to win tight defensive battles when they find themselves in such games. If they get past the Rangers in Round Two, watch out.

Some have said that because all four of the Rangers' first round wins were by the same razor-thin score of 2-1, they look less formidable than they did before. However, I think that makes them even more formidable, for it shows they have the mental strength to win games when they're playing subpar and facing a brick wall of a goalie. Plus, Henrik Lundqvist demonstrated that he is on top of his game by posting a .939 save percentage and allowing just 1.94 goals per game. In each of those stats, his opening round was identical to that of Vezina front-runner Carey Price.

You gotta feel bad for Marc-Andre Fleury. Against the Rangers he registered a lights-out .927 save percentage; surrendered more than two goals in only one of five games; held New York to a single regulation goal in two of the five; and looked every bit like the Cup champion he is. Nonetheless, when Pittsburgh fans and management assess how their team needs to be improved in the off-season, they are probably going to consider him one of the weaknesses rather than one of the strengths.

You also gotta feel bad for the fans in Winnipeg. It's not like their team had a great chance to eliminate top-seeded Anaheim, but after all they've been through over the years, those fans deserve to at least experience a playoff game being won in their building. Their white out tradition is too awesome to not witness some kind of post-season success.

Also, if you have any sense of history and tradition, you gotta feel bad about the New York Islanders playing their final game in Nassau Coliseum and moving from Uniondale to Brooklyn. Although the Rangers always receive the media attention, it is the Isles who produced one of the NHL's true dynasties. When I first fell in love with hockey, Mike Bossy was the face of the game and Denis Potvin was the world's best blueliner. Maybe Nassau Coliseum is a dump by today's standards, but it is the home of hockey royalty, and is the last functioning arena to house a winner of four consecutive Stanley Cup champions.

Lastly, I will take this opportunity to puff up my hometown francise one more time: In their history, the Lightning have played five Game Sevens and never once given up more than one goal (their lone Game Seven loss was by a score of 1-0, four years ago in Boston).

I'll be back later. Go Bolts!