Lightning's Alex Killorn Wanted to Play Games 6, 7 After Surgery on Broken Leg Injury
Jul 8, 2021
TAMPA, FLORIDA - JULY 07: Alex Killorn #17 of the Tampa Bay Lightning hoists the Stanley Cup after defeating the Montreal Canadiens 1-0 in Game Five to win the 2021 NHL Stanley Cup Final at Amalie Arena on July 07, 2021 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)
Tampa Bay Lightning forward Alex
Killorn said he was aiming to play in the final two games
of the Stanley Cup Final despite suffering a broken fibula in Game 1.
Killorn told reporters he recently underwent surgery, but his return plans were rendered moot
as the Bolts shut out the Montreal Canadiens in Game 5 on Wednesday night to win their
second straight NHL championship.
The 31-year-old was a key
contributor for the Lightning before the injury. He tallied 17 points
(eight goals and nine assists) in 19 playoff games, an uptick from
his regular-season scoring rate of 33 points (15 goals and 18
assists) across 56 appearances.
Teammate Blake Coleman praised Killorn
for his wide-ranging impact before Game 5 but also credited those
who stepped into larger roles in his absence during the Final:
He's got his fingerprints all
over this team. He's a great penalty killer. He plays on our first
power-play unit. He's great 5-on-5. Good puck possession guy. He's
physical. There's not many things he doesn't do for us. We certainly
miss him when he's not in the lineup. Thankfully we've got a
next-man-up mentality and a lot of depth in this room. Guys like
[Mathieu Joseph] have stepped in and done a great job. There's
certainly areas where his presence is missed, but it's just next man
up.
Ross Colton, one of those depth players
Coleman was referring to, stepped up in the biggest way possible by
scoring the only goal in Tampa's 1-0 win Wednesday.
Make no mistake, the Lightning are
built on star power, led by Nikita Kucherov, Steven Stamkos, Victor
Hedman, Brayden Point and Conn Smythe Trophy winner Andrei
Vasilevskiy, but it usually takes quite a bit of secondary scoring to
win the Cup, and the Bolts had that too.
While all of Tampa's key players are under contract for next season, they could face some difficult
decisions elsewhere on the roster in the offseason. They're projected to be $3.5 million over the salary cap for 2021-22 with only 17
of the 20 roster slots filled, per CapFriendly.
Killorn, who's under contract for two
more seasons with a $4.45 million cap hit, could be one of the
players whose name is bandied about in trade rumors as the Lightning
work to get under the cap.
Even with some necessary moves on the
horizon, Tampa Bay will likely enter next season as the favorite to
take home a third straight Stanley Cup.
NHL Stanley Cup Final 2021: Lightning vs. Canadiens Game 5 Twitter Reaction
Jul 8, 2021
Tampa Bay Lightning right wing Nikita Kucherov hoists the Stanley Cup after the team defeated the Montreal Canadiens in Game 5 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup finals, Wednesday, July 7, 2021, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan Ebenhack)
It's hard to win the Stanley Cup. It's even more difficult to win it two years in a row. However, the Tampa Bay Lightning are a special team, one that's going to go down in history as one of the best of the salary-cap era.
On Wednesday, the Lightning successfully completed their Cup defense, beating the Montreal Canadiens 1-0 in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final at Amalie Arena. After winning the first three games of the series, Tampa Bay fell on the road in Game 4 but bounced back in a big way.
In case you have forgotten, the Lightning won 62 regular-season games during the 2018-19 campaign before getting swept in the first round of the playoffs by the Columbus Blue Jackets. Since then, Tampa Bay has been unbeatable in the postseason, as The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun pointed out:
The 62-win Lightning of 2018-19 got swept by Columbus in the first round. Since then, Tampa Bay has won eight straight playoff series, never trailed in a series, never lost back-to-back playoff games en route to winning back-to-back Stanley Cup championships. That’s something.
Prior to last season, the Lightning had won the Stanley Cup only once in their first 27 seasons as an NHL franchise. Now, they have won two in less than a year. They beat the Dallas Stars in September in the NHL bubble once the season resumed amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Perhaps the Lightning have had a good luck charm: Tom Brady. Tampa Bay has won back-to-back Stanley Cups since Brady joined the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who also won the Super Bowl earlier this year. And it isn't the first time Brady has brought good fortune to a city:
When Tom Brady was in Boston as a NE Patriot (2000-2019). Pats won 6 SB's, Red Sox won 4 WS, Celtics and Bruins each won one championship. Since signing with Tampa Bay in March 2020, Bucs have won a SB, Rays the ALCS, and the Lightning 2 SC's. The GOAT of good luck charms
One of the biggest reasons for the Lightning's success this postseason was the play of goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, who was the recipient of the Conn Smythe Trophy. The 26-year-old allowed only eight total goals in the five-game series, while recording 132 saves.
After Vasilevskiy ended the Stanley Cup Final with his fifth shutout of the postseason, there were plenty of people on Twitter giving Tampa Bay's goaltender the praise that he deserved:
The Lightning were so impressive this postseason that they may even be converting fans of other teams. Professional wrestling legend and WWE Hall of Famer Kevin Nash, who is a known fan of the Detroit Red Wings, clearly liked what he saw from Tampa Bay:
So should I open a Lightning hockey town bar in Tampa? I've lived 25 years now in Florida. I'm wings till I die. But Tampa out skates everyone and goaltending is incredible. Florida is the hockey state. WTF?
When the Lightning had a 3-0 series lead in the Stanley Cup Final, a lot of attention was garnered by Tampa Mayor Jane Castor, who suggested that the team should lose Game 4 in Montreal so that it could win the Cup on its home ice in Game 5. Of course, that's a risky thing to do. Momentum can easily shift in a series.
As it turned out, though, that's how things unfolded. The Canadiens extended their season with a Game 4 win, but the Lightning rebounded to provide Tampa with a championship celebration. That resulted in Castor chiming back in after the victory:
For now, the Lightning will continue to celebrate their latest Stanley Cup victory. But at some point, their focus will shift to the 2021-22 season. They will be looking to become the first team to win the Cup in three consecutive years since the New York Islanders, who won four straight from 1980-83.
Considering how strong this Tampa Bay team is, it has a strong chance to do just that.
Modern-Day Dynasty? Lightning Making the Case After Back-to-Back Stanley Cup Win
Jul 8, 2021
The Tampa Bay Lightning team poses with the Stanley Cup after Game 5 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup finals against the Montreal Canadiens, Wednesday, July 7, 2021, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)
It was almost as if it was scripted.
With the Tampa Bay Lightning trying to clinch the Stanley Cup on their home ice Wednesday night in Game 5 of the Final after being unable to celebrate with fans, friends or family one year prior in the bubble. The only two players on the ice who were not in the bubble made sure the Bolts would get that celebration.
Tampa Bay's David Savard slid a pass to Ross Colton in the crease. Colton beat Montreal Canadiens goalie Carey Price to give the home team a 1-0 lead in the second period.
It might not seem like much, but a 1-goal margin is more than enough for the Lightning and goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, who won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the postseason MVP.
"You knew after that first goal that Vasy was going to shut the door," Tampa Bay captain Steven Stamkos said.
Just ask the New York Islanders, who lost 1-0 in Game 7 of the semifinal round. This team is strong enough to make it stand up and the Habs were gassed.
The Cup was presented. Stamkos lifted it as a packed Amalie Arena crowd roared.
"We just went back-to-back," forward Patrick Maroon said. "That's (expletive) amazing."
Amazing doesn't begin to describe this Tampa Bay team. The term historically great might be more applicable.
They play a suffocating brand of hockey and they can win in a variety of ways. They didn't use their vaunted power play, they didn't get a hat trick from a star, but Vasilevskiy, pitched a shutout — his fifth straight in a series clinching game — and two role players came up big when it mattered the most.
Tampa Bay has long been the best team in the salary cap era but didn't have much to show for it until last year. They passed the eye test, they stifled their opponents in the regular season, won the President's Trophy in 2019 and they regularly went deep into the postseason, even making it to the Cup Final in 2015 and going to the Eastern Conference Final in 2016 and 2018.
Two years ago, they were the most loaded team in hockey but they were embarrassingly swept out of the first round by the Columbus Blue Jackets.
So maybe that was the key for this Bolts team, that is largely homegrown, has stayed mostly intact throughout the last five seasons and has been led by the same coach: They had to learn to handle failure before they could learn to handle prosperity.
What the Lightning have done well is mining talents outside of the first round and working the trade market for undervalued talents. It's a very Moneyball type of approach, but with the money. They are $18 million over the salary cap, after all.
Brayden Point and Alex Killorn were third-round picks in their respective draft years. Ondrej Palat was a seventh-round pick. Yanni Gourde was undrafted, as was his linemate Barclay Goodrow, who was acquired ahead of the 2020 trade deadline. Blake Coleman came over at the deadline from the New Jersey Devils. At the time, New Jersey general manager Tom Fitzgerald said he couldn't have guessed that Coleman would turn into a power forward who averages 20 goals a season, but Coleman has been an impactful player on two straight Cup teams.
Even Nikita Kucherov, who is only the third player in NHL history to post 30 or more points in back-to-back postseasons (Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemeuix are the other two), was drafted in the second round.
The team tanked for Stamkos and drafted him first overall in 2008. A year later, the club selected defenseman Victor Hedman second overall. In 2012 they drafted Vasilevskiy in the first round. They developed their core talent and convinced Stamkos to stick around for a while.
The player that set up the Colton goal was defenseman Ryan McDonagh, arguably the best Tampa Bay skater in the Final round. The former New York Rangers captain was traded to the Lightning in 2018, triggering a rebuild on Broadway.
Former general manager Steve Yzerman began the building process and current GM Julien BrisBois picked up where Yzerman left off. Jon Cooper, the longest-tenured coach in the NHL, has integrated these players into the lineup masterfully. It's a blueprint that other organizations should strive to emulate but it's not that easy. Some of it is luck and some of it is smarts. For every draft pick that made them look smart there was one that didn't quite pan out.
But management did a fantastic job of filling in the gaps with the right players when they were needed.
The strange pandemic-shortened season made their title defense even more difficult. But in the end, the scrappy Habs could not match the talent level of such a deep team. They were a great story with a great goalie who deserved a shot at hockey glory. That goalie, Carey Price, tried to shoulder the blame saying he felt that he didn't play well enough at the start of the series.
Montreal captain Shea Weber interrupted him to dispel that notion.
"I don't think that's the case," Weber said in his postgame Zoom press conference. "I think we weren't good enough in front of Carey. They're here for a reason, they're a heckuva team. They were better than us in the end."
The Lightning is the best team of the salary cap era and they could very well win a third one next season. It's becoming more and more difficult with the flat cap and another expansion team, the Seattle Kraken. And while this management team always seems to have an answer for everything, the entire team knows the reality of the cap situation. It's something they have talked openly about throughout this postseason run.
Tyler Johnson will likely be gone, as will Coleman and Goodrow.
"It's so hard to win the Stanley Cup. And then you do it two years in a row, you deserve to go down in history," Stamkos said. "And this group, no matter what happens from here on out, this group is going to be etched in history forever and that's pretty f-ing special. I'm so proud of the guys. You can't soak it in yet. It's so fresh. It's so new. You don't even realize what's going to happen. We won the Stanley Cup and we still have the Stanley Cup. That's just amazing."
After Stamkos and Hedman took their laps with the Cup, it was handed off to Savard, the only veteran in the group who had never won one in the past. It was fitting.
It was exactly how management drew it up.
Conn Smythe Trophy 2021: Tampa Bay's Andrei Vasilevskiy Wins Playoff MVP
Jul 8, 2021
TAMPA, FL - JUNE 05: Tampa Bay Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevsky (88) tracks the puck during Game 4 of the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs Second Round match between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Carolina Hurricanes on June 05, 2021 at Amalie Arena in Tampa, FL. (Photo by Roy K. Miller/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
One year after Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman earned the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP, his teammate and netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy nabbed the award as the Bolts successfully defended their title with a 1-0 victory in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final on Wednesday.
It's the fifth straight series-clinching shutout for the goalie, who allowed just 44 goals in 23 playoff games (1.93 goals against average).
Vasilevskiy is also just the third goalie all-time with 2 shutouts in Stanley Cup Final clinchers, joining Clint Benedict (1923, 1926) and Bernie Parent (1974, 1975).
Vasilevskiy becomes the first goaltender to win the award since Los Angeles Kings netminder Jonathan Quick in 2012 and just the 17th goaltender to claim the Conn Smythe in NHL history.
The netminder is also the sixth player—and first goalie—born outside of North America to win the award, joining Nicklas Lidstrom, Henrik Zetterberg, Evgeni Malkin, Alex Ovechkin and Hedman.
While it's typical for a few players to build a case for playoff MVP, Vasilevskiy had as much of a challenge as any player trying to claim the Conn Smythe.
Brayden Point notched 14 goals and nine assists throughout the postseason, including a stretch where he scored in nine consecutive games against the New York Islanders and Carolina Hurricanes.
Nikita Kucherov had a solid case as well, posting 32 points (eight goals, 24 assists) over the course of the playoffs. Hedman, too, had a shot at repeating with 18 points (two goals, 16 assists) while skating an averaged of 24:38 per night.
Yet Vasilevskiy outplayed them all, coming up with major stop after major stop, ensuring his team never lost consecutive games and outworking one of the best goalies of his generation in Montreal Canadiens star Carey Price.
"Torches get passed, and I think Carey is still carrying the torch, but it’s getting passed to guys like Vasy," Lightning head coach John Cooper said earlier in the series. "It's the mental makeup. Carey Price has a demeanor about him that it exudes confidence. And he has an ability to turn the page. He has an ability to play at big moments, and he's grown into that."
Lightning Win 2nd Straight Stanley Cup Title With Game 5 Win vs. Canadiens
Jul 8, 2021
Tampa Bay Lightning left wing Ross Colton (79) scores on Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price (31) during the second period in Game 5 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup finals, Wednesday, July 7, 2021, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan Ebenhack)
The Tampa Bay Lightning are back-to-back Stanley Cup Final champions after beating the visiting Montreal Canadiens 1-0 in Game 5 on Wednesday at Amalie Arena.
Lightning center Ross Colton's goal at 13:27 of the second period was all Tampa Bay needed to secure the 4-1 series win in the best-of-seven matchup. David Savard and Ryan McDonagh contributed the assists.
Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy made 22 saves en route to his fifth shutout this postseason. He made a pair of saves in the final minute as the Canadiens pressed Tampa Bay's end with an extra attacker after pulling goaltender Carey Price.
The Lightning became just the second team this century to win back-to-back Cups. The Pittsburgh Penguins also did so in 2016 and 2017.
Notable Performances
Lightning C Ross Colton: 1 G
Lightning RW Nikita Kucherov: 5 SOG
Lightning G Andrei Vasilevskiy: 22 SV
Canadiens RW Josh Anderson: 3 SOG
Vasilevskiy Leads the Way in Series-Clinching Win...Again
The Lightning are on top of the hockey world once again, and Vasilevskiy made sure of it with another spotless effort.
Not only did Vasilevskiy earn his fifth 2021 postseason shutout on Wednesday, but he also earned his fifth straight shutout in series-clinching games.
It's a remarkable accomplishment for the well-deserved Conn Smythe Trophy winner.
Andrei Vasilevskiy was a force to be reckoned with through the 2021 #StanleyCup Playoffs and is the winner of the 2021 Conn Smythe Trophy.
He only allowed eight goals during the Stanley Cup Final, and he ended with five of the 12 total shutouts by goaltenders this postseason, per Dimitri Filipovic of The Hockey PDOcast.
Chris Fallica of College Gameday broke down his performances in three notable games:
Andrei Vasilevskiy this postseason
G6 vs CAR - 29 saves in 2-0 road win. Game was 1-0 for 26:50 from 2nd to mid 3rd
G7 vs NYI - made a 1-0 lead stand up for 38:11 in a 1-0 win to reach Cup Final
G5 vs MTL - made a 1-0 lead stand up for 27:33 in a 1-0 game to win Stanley Cup
Mathematician Micah Blake McCurdy also showcased just how good Vasilevskiy was in the playoffs:
Vasilevskiy for the playoffs all up: 35 GA on 53.2 xG, for +18.2 goals saved more than an nhl average goalie over the course of 22 games. pic.twitter.com/SuHFUcW1gL
— Micah Blake McCurdy (@IneffectiveMath) July 8, 2021
And Kevin Neghandi of ESPN pointed out that the Lightning netminder was 14-0 following losses in the playoffs over the last two years.
Vasilevskiy was not tested too often in Game 5 as he faced just 22 shots, but he made some huge saves along the way, perhaps none more important than this stop on right wing Josh Anderson:
— NBC Sports Hockey (@NBCSportsHockey) July 8, 2021
He also held strong in the end of the game as Montreal maintained pressure in Tampa Bay's end, but nothing came of it as the Canadiens were kept off the board.
Ross Colton Is the Latest Unsung Lightning Hero
The Lightning have received key contributions from their entire lineup this postseason, but seeing the lone goal emerge Sunday from some new unsung heroes was still a bit surprising.
Colton, Savard and McDonagh combined to score 24 regular-season points. For context, eight Lightning players scored more than that amount by themselves.
That trio also had 16 total points in the playoffs before Game 5. Of note, five Lightning players had 17 or more playoff points prior to Wednesday.
And yet those aforementioned three players were the only ones to score any points at all in Game 5.
The Lightning have tremendous star power, with names like Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point and Victor Hedman routinely delivering for the back-to-back champions.
However, the team runs deep, and the Lightning's excellent depth has proven to be their opponents' downfall at times. Pete Blackburn of Bally Sports noted that the Lightning's top players weren't hitting the goalsheet of late, but it didn't particularly matter.
Last five goal-scorers of the Lightning's Stanley Cup run...
Colton, a rookie who tied the Canadiens' Cole Caufield for the most goals by a first-year player in this season's playoffs (four), was one of only two players on the roster without a Cup before Wednesday. Per ESPN's Emily Kaplan, that duo consists of Colton and Savard.
Colton also made some notable history along the way:
Hockey writer Chris Peters noted that Colton didn't exactly have a easy and direct route to the pros either:
Ross Colton, the latest of Tampa Bay's "yeah, we found this guy," drafted in his last year of draft eligibility out of Cedar Rapids in the USHL. Played two years at Vermont, got into Tampa's pro player factory in Syracuse and rounded out just in time to score Stanley Cup clincher
But the Lightning's strength is in their tremendous depth up and down the roster. Players like Colton have made the difference in this postseason, and now Tampa Bay is celebrating its second straight Stanley Cup.
Tampa Mayor Jane Castor Wants Lightning to Lose to Canadiens to Win, Celebrate in TB
Jul 5, 2021
Tampa Bay Lightning center Anthony Cirelli (71) controls a puck during the first period of Game 2 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup finals series against the Montreal Canadiens, Wednesday, June 30, 2021, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)
The Tampa Bay Lightning are one win away from their second straight Stanley Cup triumph with a 3-0 series lead over the Montreal Canadiens heading into Monday night's Game 4.
Tampa Mayor Jane Castor is not-so-secretly hoping for a Game 5, albeit for good reason. With Game 4 set for Montreal and the series due to return to Tampa for a potential Game 5, Castor says she wants the Lightning to get a chance to celebrate in front of the home crowd.
"What we would like is for the Lightning to take it a little bit easy, to give the Canadiens just the smallest break, allow them to win one at home, and then bring it back to the Amalie Arena for the final and the winning of the Stanley Cup," Castor said Sunday. "We don't want to get ahead of ourselves. But they are playing some amazing, amazing hockey."
The Lightning were forced to celebrate their 2020 Cup victory without fanfare because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The NHL held the Stanley Cup Final in Montreal as part of a bubble arrangement.
Family and friends of players/staff were not permitted to cross the Canadian border for Games 3 and 4 in Montreal, so the team would be facing a similar situation to last year if they were to win Monday night.
Lightning Family Members Denied Exemption to Travel to Canada for Stanley Cup Final
Jul 3, 2021
MONTREAL, QC - JULY 02: Tampa Bay Lightning defenceman Jan Rutta (44) celebrates his goal with his teammates during the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs Final game 3 between the Tampa Bay Lightning versus the Montreal Canadiens on July 02, 2021, at Bell Centre in Montreal, QC (Photo by David Kirouac/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
If the Tampa Bay Lightning secure their second straight Stanley Cup title in Game 4 on Monday night, the team's celebration won't include family members.
Per ESPN's Emily Kaplan, NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said the Canadian government didn't grant exemptions for Lightning family members to attend the game against the Montreal Canadiens.
Last month, the Canadian government approved the NHL's request for a travel exemption that allowed teams to travel between Canada and the U.S. for the final two rounds of the postseason without having to quarantine.
The league agreed that teams entering the country would undergo daily coronavirus testing and live in a modified bubble in which they had no contact with the public.
Per the Canadian government's website, anyone traveling into the country, "regardless of citizenship," is required to quarantine for 14 days even if they don't have any COVID-19 symptoms.
Kaplan noted that Lightning players, coaches and staff "have only been able to travel between their hotel and the arena" since arriving in Montreal prior to Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final.
Canadiens interim head coach Dominique Ducharme returned to the bench for Friday's 6-3 loss. He had missed the team's previous six games after testing positive for COVID-19.
The Lightning will look to close out the Stanley Cup Final in Game 4 at the Bell Centre. They would become the first team to repeat as champions since the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2015-16 and 2016-17.
Silent Star Nikita Kucherov Is Tampa's MVP as Lightning Close In on Stanley Cup
Jul 3, 2021
Tampa Bay Lightning right wing Nikita Kucherov (86) follows a play during the second period of Game 2 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup finals series against the Montreal Canadiens, Wednesday, June 30, 2021, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)
As soon as it became apparent that the Montreal Canadiens would have trouble hanging in there against the vaunted Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final, the conversation about who should win the Conn Smythe Trophy began.
Tampa Bay goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy or center Brayden Point? What about one of Point's linemates, Nikita Kucherov? Sure, there is an argument for Montreal goalie Carey Price since this award is intended for the most valuable player in the Stanley Cup playoffs, meaning the entire postseason, and he did get the scrappy Habs into the Cup Final with some Vezina-worthy play.
But the player defining the Stanley Cup playoffs is Kucherov—even outside of the Conn Smythe conversation. Between the salary-cap conversation and his production, the right wing has been one of the focal points of the postseason.
"That's one of the best players in the world," Lightning captain Steven Stamkos told reporters after Game 1. "He's playing like a beast right now. He's so, so good."
With back-to-back 30-point postseason performances, he's in rarefied air. The only other players to do that were Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux.
You would be hard-pressed to find a more loaded roster than this Lightning vintage, so if you think of Vasilevskiy, Point or even defenseman Victor Hedman, so if he's not the first elite player on the roster you think of, that's why. He might not even be the first player you think of in a conversation about NHL greats because players like Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon do still exist. And it's not like he's underrated considering he won the Hart Trophy in 2019 on the back of 128-point regular season.
But 32 postseason points and closing in on a second Stanley Cup in as many years would justify some hype. Kucherov has eight goals and 24 assists. No other player in the postseason has 24 points, with linemate Point the closest with 23.
"He’s an elite player in this league that has a scoring touch that not many guys can say they have," defenseman Ryan McDonagh said. "He can score in different fashions, power play and 5-on-5 and I think when he’s on his game he just lets the game come to him and take what’s given and is just in the right spots. Playing with some great linemates, he’s allowed to set them up a lot of times and they can set him up as well. He has that great finishing ability, so for us when he’s making plays out there it’s a great sign for us."
Kucherov scored his eighth goal a little under two minutes into in the second period Friday, finishing off a pretty pass by Ondrej Palat. The Habs turned over the puck in the offensive zone, and Erik Cernak sent a long outlet pass to Palat to start the rush. It increased the Lightning's lead to 3-1 and ended all hope of any comeback for the home team.
"Everybody's buying in, and everybody's doing their job," Kucherov said following Game 3. "And when everybody's doing their job, it makes it easier and we all play a full 60 minutes the right way, and that's what we're doing right now."
You might not know it from the few interviews he's done since the series began, but we might be seeing one of the great playoff performances. And it's coming after Kucherov missed the entire 2020-21 regular season while recovering from hip surgery.
"It was tough mentally, not being able to play, but that's all in the past," Kucherov said Monday. "I'm just really enjoying the moment and happy to be with the boys and just excited to play in the Final."
But it doesn't look like anything has hindered the 28-year-old. Throughout the spring and into summer, he's played as he always has, using a solid two-way game, explosive skating and a deadly shot. His uncanny ability to set up his teammates is evidenced by his assists. The power play lacked a significant punch after he left the ice injured during Game 6 of the semifinal round against the New York Islanders. Luckily for Tampa Bay, it hasn't had to be without him in the Final.
But here's where the controversy comes into play. Right now, per CapFriendly, the Lightning are around $18 million over the salary cap. After winning the Cup last season, it was assumed by many that they would have to break up the team to get under the flat cap. But general manager Julien BriseBois buried Kucherov's $9.5 million cap hit on long-term injured reserve all season and activated him ahead of the first game of the postseason against the Florida Panthers.
The Bolts broke no rules despite the cap maneuvering not sitting right with many. After all, the team was good enough to make it to the playoffs without an integral part of their lineup. But.
The league didn't find any evidence that Tampa Bay was holding a healthy player out of the lineup during the regular season, and the salary cap doesn't matter during the playoffs. Prior to the first game of the Stanley Cup Final, commissioner Gary Bettman said the Lightning did not improperly circumvent the cap.
So Kucherov returned to a team that was already good enough to win without him. This could be a reason he doesn't get the Conn Smythe despite the fact that it is supposed to be awarded based solely on postseason performance.
But it's less about individual performances anyway. This Lightning team is on the verge of cementing itself as a dynasty because Kucherov complements the team and vice versa, which is why they are in a position to sweep the Habs and claim their second straight Stanley Cup.
"The individual accolades got pushed to the side," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "I know it sounds cliche, but it's the truth. They all just pull in the same direction. It's amazing to listen on the bench compared to four years ago. It's amazing what's being said and how everybody speaks up. It's been marvelous to watch and watch this team grow.
"It took us some time, but now it's starting to pay some dividends. We've still got a ways to go here, but regardless, they've put the team first, and that's why we've had success."
The Lightning were already a scary team. Kucherov makes them seem downright unstoppable.
Victor Hedman, Lightning Beat Canadiens in Game 3 to Take Commanding 3-0 Series Lead
Jul 3, 2021
TAMPA, FLORIDA - JUNE 30: Tyler Johnson #9 of the Tampa Bay Lightning plays against Shea Weber #6 of the Montreal Canadiens during the second period of Game Two of the 2021 Stanley Cup Final at Amalie Arena on June 30, 2021 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Florence Labelle/NHLI via Getty Images)
A change of venue didn't seem to slow down the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday as the Bolts defeated the Montreal Canadiens 6-3 at Bell Centre in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final. That gives the defending champions a massive 3-0 series lead and puts them one win away from becoming the first team to win the Cup in back-to-back years since the Pittsburgh Penguins did it in 2016 and 2017.
Only four teams in NHL history have come back to win a series after trailing 3-0 with the Los Angeles Kings the last to do so in 2014 during the first round. It's only happened once in the Stanley Cup Final back when the Toronto Maple Leafs stunned the Detroit Red Wings in 1942.
Montreal has now been outscored 14-5 in the series despite peppering Tampa goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy for 74 shots over the last two games. Even with Lightning forward Alex Killorn (lower body) out for a second straight game, the Bolts hardly lacked offense with goals by five different players.
Notable Performers
Victor Hedman, D, Tampa Bay Lightning: 1 Goal, 1 Assist, 2 Blocks
Andrei Vasilevskiy, G, Tampa Bay Lightning: 32 Saves, 3 Goals Allowed
Nick Suzuki, C, Montreal Canadiens: 1 Goal, 2 SOG, 2 Blocks
Carey Price, G, Montreal Canadiens: 24 Saves, 5 Goals Allowed
The Canadiens committed the hockey sin of allowing a goal in the first or final two minutes of a period when Blake Coleman scored a one-handed goal with a less than a second remaining in the middle frame of Game 2.
Friday night proved that if even the Habs learned their lesson, they were powerless to stop themselves from repeating the error. Twice.
Tampa's Jan Ruuta broke the scoring open at 1:52 of the first period, spoiling the first Stanley Cup game on Canadian soil in a decade just moments after puck drop. The 1-0 lead didn't last long as Victor Hedman added a power-play goal against the league's best penalty kill barely two minutes later.
It was a rare special teams mistake for the Habs, allowing Anthony Cirelli to screen Montreal's Carey Price without any defender there to move him. It was also the first of many mistakes on the night.
The Canadiens gave up multiple odd-man rushes, putting more pressure on Price than necessary and giving way to a flurry of high-leverage scoring chances, the next most brutal of which came on Nikita Kucherov's goal just 1:40 into the second period.
Ondrej Palat ➡️ Nikita Kucherov
Make that another multi-point night for No. 86. #StanleyCup
#TBLightning 14-2 when scoring first in playoffs. Two point shots from d-men. Two quality screens on Carey Price. Victor Hedman said they planned to bring it + they certainly did
Again it was the Tampa offense creating an odd-man rush and immediately capitalizing. Again it was Montreal allowing a goal in the first two minutes. And again it was the Bolts refusing to let up, scoring a fourth goal two minutes after Kucherov's eighth of the postseason.
A combination of a relentless Tampa Bay club and a failure to limit mistakes has the Canadiens on the brink of elimination.
Vasilevskiy Strengthens Conn Smythe Case
The prevailing thought heading into the Cup Final was that Price had the best chance to win the Conn Smythe Award as playoff MVP. Price has long been considered one of the best goalies in the league and has Vezina and Jennings Trophies to prove it.
In 17 playoff games before the Final, Price allowed two or fewer goals in 12 of them. He's allowed 13 goals in three games against Tampa Bay so far.
#Habs Price on his play in this game and the series thus far: “I can definitely play better. It’s just not good enough so far.”
Instead, it's the goalie playing on the opposite end of the ice who's looking like the Conn Smythe front-runner through three games in the Final. Vasilevskiy has been as relentless in net as his team's offense with the puck.
The 6'3", 225-pound netminder has always been well regarded, but he's playing at his highest level yet. That starts with a sterling 1.89 goals allowed average and 93.9 save percentage in the postseason.
In the Cup Final alone, Vasilevskiy has turned aside 92 of 97 shots faced, but it's the timing of his saves that matter as much as the volume of them.
Vasilevskiy is putting on an absolute clinic.
The glove save through traffic was insane, then getting across and challenging Weber’s shot.
Tampa Bay has taken a 2-1 lead in each of the first three games of the series so far. The Lightning have scored the next goal in each of those instances. Vasilevskiy has given his team all the support it needs on the back end and then some.
He may head back to Florida with the Conn Smythe by his side if he's able to keep it up.
What's Next?
The two clubs will stay put in Montreal with Game 4 slated for Monday, July 5 at 8 p.m. on NBC.
Lighting Take 2-0 Series Lead Over Canadiens with 3-1 Game 2 Win
Jul 1, 2021
TAMPA, FLORIDA - JUNE 28: Carey Price #31 of the Montreal Canadiens defends against Ondrej Palat #18 of the Tampa Bay Lightning during Game One of the 2021 NHL Stanley Cup Finals against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena on June 28, 2021 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
The Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning are two wins away from successfully defending their title.
Despite missing forward Alex Killorn (lower body), the Bolts easily won Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final over the Montreal Canadiens, 3-1. The victory continued a run of dominant play by the Lightning, who are 6-2 over their last eight playoff games while outscoring their opponents 27-11.
— NBC Sports Hockey (@NBCSportsHockey) July 1, 2021
Montreal goalie Carey Price made 20 saves in the loss as Tampa pelted him with 23 shots in Game 2 after he faced 27 shots in Game 1.
The series now moves to the Bell Centre as the Lightning become just the second American team to play north of the border this season. Tampa leads the best-of-seven series 2-0.
Notable Performers
Blake Coleman, C, Tampa Bay Lightning: 1 Goal, 3 SOG, 3 Hits
Andrei Vasilevskiy, G, Tampa Bay Lightning: 42 Saves, 1 Goal Allowed
Nick Suzuki, C, Montreal Canadiens: 1 Goal, 9 SOG, 2 Hits
Jeff Petry, D, Montreal Canadiens: 5 SOG, -2 Plus/Minus, 2 Hits
Blake Coleman's Backbreaker
Giving up a goal with less than two minutes remaining in a period is one of hockey's biggest momentum-changers. Giving up a goal with less than two seconds remaining is nearly unthinkable—both because of how rare buzzer-beaters are in the NHL and how many things have to go right, or wrong, for them to happen.
Tampa's Blake Coleman defied those odds Wednesday night, scoring what would ultimately serve as the game-winning goal in Game 2, and gave his team a 90 percent chance of repeating as Stanley Cup champions.
According to the NHL, teams that take a 2-0 series lead in the Stanley Cup Final hold an all-time record of 46-5, or a 90.2 winning percentage.
Yet the truly most incredible part of Coleman's goal isn't that he scored it one-handed while falling to the ice with time expiring. It's that he's scored like it before. Twice, actually. The first time came in an October 2019 tilt against the Winnipeg Jets when Coleman played for the New Jersey Devils, and the second came in the playoffs last year with Tampa Bay against the Boston Bruins.
So you're telling us we've seen this before from Blake Coleman.... 🤯 #StanleyCup
— Hockey Night in Canada (@hockeynight) July 1, 2021
This may have been his best version of it yet.
After a ghastly turnover in the neutral zone with less than 10 seconds remaining in the frame, the Bolts opened up a two-on-one with Barclay Goodrow flipping the puck to Coleman on his left wing, who then buried it behind a stunned Price.
The Habs outshot Tampa 16-6 in the second period before Coleman got his hand on the puck, using an unassisted tally from Nick Suzuki midway through the frame to knot things up at 1. Getting out of the period with a tie on the road would've been a victory in itself.
Instead, the Canadiens had nearly 20 minutes to sit in the locker room and replay the final 10 seconds of the period in their heads.
Habs Head Home Down, Not Out
This is certainly not the way the Canadiens expected to return home after two games.
Down 0-2 is tough enough. Down 0-2 after pelting the opposing goalie with 43 shots against an offense missing its second-best point-producer in Killorn might have long-term consequences.
— NBC Sports Hockey (@NBCSportsHockey) July 1, 2021
Montreal looked arguably as good Wednesday night as it had at any point this postseason. The Habs outshot Tampa 43-23, killed off all three Lightning power plays and were only credited with two giveaways to the Bolts' six. This was Montreal's statement game, and Tampa had no trouble erasing it.
While there are a few areas the Canadiens would like to clean up—going 1-of-3 on the man-advantage including a four-on-three is a good place to start—this wasn't a game where Montreal made many mistakes.
Even Coleman's goal was the product of him taking advantage of a fluky situation rather than a Habs error.
The biggest mistake committed by the Canadiens came on Ondrej Palat's goal late in the third period, when a blind pass from defenseman Joel Edmundson behind the net inadvertently put the puck on Palat's stick with Price looking the other way.
There wasn't much the Habs could do at that point. Barely four minutes remained in regulation and everything else they'd thrown at Tampa Bay had been easily brushed aside. After two games in the Stanley Cup Final, the Canadiens are still looking for a way to dent the reigning champs.
What's Next?
Games 3 and 4 head to Montreal's Bell Centre with Game 3 slated for Friday night at 8 p.m. ET on NBC.
