Lightning advance to Stanley Cup final with Game 7 victory over Rangers
NEW YORK—At the morning skate, in the world’s most famous arena, with questions about the mighty and accomplished New York Rangers ringing in their ears, the Tampa Bay Lightning players told each other, wait until they see us. Steven Stamkos said it out loud: “They’ve never played the Tampa Bay Lightning in a Game 7 before,” he said. After two scoreless periods against Henrik Lundqvist, with the tension winding up like a spring, they told each other — we’re going to get there, we’re going to crack him. They believed, these kids, this team.
They were right to believe. In the biggest game of most of their lives, the Tampa Bay Lightning were dominant, shutting out the Rangers 2-0 in a dominant performance. This was the highest-scoring team in the NHL this season, and they shut out New York at MSG from the second period of Game 2 on.
“For whatever reason, that was probably the most calm Game 7 that I’ve ever played in,” said Stamkos. “And not just before the game, but on the bench. I don’t know what it was. Going into the third, we were loose. We knew we were playing the game right way. We knew we were going to get one.”
They can’t have been totally sure, because Lundqvist was spectacular, and is a giant in Game 7s. He barely stopped a slowly spinning Stamkos deflection in the first, made a pile of pad saves in the second, stopped everything. Lundqvist has a gold medal and a Swedish championship and a Vezina, and he is chasing a near-perfect life. The Stanley Cup means a lot, because it’s all that’s left.
“I think it means everything (to him),” said Per Bjurman, the omnipresent Swedish writer from Aftonbladet. “He’s been here for 10 years, working so hard. It’s all about that.”
But the Rangers weren’t getting anything worthwhile at the other end. The Lightning kept them away from Ben Bishop, no rebounds, coolly handled pucks in their own end, got out. Tampa had two penalties to kill, one on an absolutely phantom penalty on Brenden Morrow, and did it. New York had nine shots at even strength through two periods, and even as you wondered if they could spring a counterattack goal, the Lightning’s numbers had them at two or three good scoring chances in the first 40 minutes.
And not two minutes into the third period, they solved the puzzle. Tampa has beaten Carey Price and Lundqvist all season and in these playoffs, and they have come to believe they can crack any safe. In this one, Alex Killorn skated down the left boards, spun into the middle with a Ranger on his back, and golfed a backhand that tumbled through a screen and through Lundqvist. 1-0.
The Rangers pushed, of course, but the Lightning never lost control. The Rangers had a flurry with 10:40 left, but Bishop was there. And with 8:43 left Tampa broke out cleanly, and Tyler Johnson hit fellow triplet Ondrej Palat with a classic cross-ice pass, and he roofed it past Lundqvist, clean and neat. The triplets — Nikita Kucherov is the third one — had been quieter when it mattered, and it was said they were victims of the nasty flu that had raced through the Lightning. Tampa coach Jon Cooper said six or eight of the Tampa players were hooked up to IVs the morning of Game 6, and the two days off before Game 7 helped.
But Tampa won 2-0, in their best game of the playoffs. This was the Lightning in full.
“I don’t know if we’re so young and dumb and don’t know any better,” said Tampa coach Jon Cooper. “But . . . every time we as a staff go in and challenge them, they respond. And they’re such a fun team to coach because they can play the game in a multitude of ways. You want to shoot it out, which our guys like to do, we can shoot it out. We want to win, want to go to the Stanley Cup final, then you have to play D. If you really want to do it, it’s a choice.
“And I look at the two games we’ve played in here, Game 5 and Game 7, and as a coach, I don’t think we could have drawn it up any better. They made a choice. Do you want to go to the final or not? And this is what happened.
“You shine the light bright on our guys, they just put on sunglasses and walk through it.”
“Confidence is a crazy thing,” said Stamkos. “It’s so tough to get. But when you have it, you try to keep it as long as you can, and this group has confidence in itself.”
“They’re so mature for a young group,” said Morrow, the oldest man in the room. “I don’t know if it’s coaching, or parenting . . . I think there’s some swagger here. It’s not arrogance, it’s belief in each other, and belief in themselves.”
Tampa will play either the heavy merciless grind of Anaheim, or the skilled killers from Chicago. The West has been the better conference for some time, and those teams have championship players on them.
But the Lightning won’t be scared. This team is good for hockey, and good at hockey, and it’s grown up before our eyes.
