And they were gamers."ĭespite falling short of taking home a third championship, it was an inspiring return to the final round and enough to silence those who typed on Twitter that the past two years were just "COVID Cups." That’s why you remember these teams, because they did everything right, they never complained and when the skill washes each other out, the gamers get it done. Got to tip your hat to those guys in that room.They were proud.
Lightning tampa series#
"To sit here and think the last playoff series we lost was Columbus in 2019. "The playoffs are a war of attrition, but they just kept coming back," Cooper said of his players. "Who says we're done? The core has been to four finals in the last eight years and won two championships."Īlong the way to his team's fourth Stanley Cup Final appearance in eight years, Cooper often marveled about the grit and determination of a team that resisted any temptation to rest on its laurels after winning back to back championships. We left it all on the ice." Four Stanley Cup Final appearances in eight yearsĭespite Sunday night’s loss, there are plenty of reasons to believe Tampa Bay’s window for success isn’t closed, beginning with Vasilevskiy, Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov, Victor Hedman and Brayden Point, who missed most of this playoff run after leading the teams in goals scored each of the past two postseasons. "There are so many easy outs we could have taken, but this group didn't," Stamkos said. The Lightning defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs, Florida Panthers and New York Rangers on the way to this year’s final and had won 11 consecutive series before running into the speedy, ultra-talented Avalanche. "We just ran out of gas," coach Jon Cooper said. Nathan MacKinnon and Artturi Lehkonen scored for Colorado in the second, and the Lightning never recovered in falling to 2-6 when trailing after two periods this postseason. The Avalanche only got seven shots off in the opening period, but never stopped coming at Vasilevskiy, who finished with 28 saves. The Lightning could test others there, possibly Brandon Hagel or Nick Paul, the latter of whom played brilliantly with Kucherov in the brief time they shared the ice during the playoffs.Steven Stamkos got them off to a fast start, scoring from in front of Darcy Kuemper less than four minutes into the game. Namestnikov has chemistry with Kucherov and can play all three forward positions. Keep an eye on Vladislav Namestnikov, who has been skating with Point and Kucherov in the team’s informal skates. The Lightning will likely test several players in the top-six role Palat held, and if the team reunites Point and Nikita Kucherov on the top scoring line, they will be hard-pressed to find a player with the kind of chemistry Palat had with them. Palat scored 27 goals over the past three postseasons, including eight game-winners, but it was his lunch-pail style playing alongside some of the Lightning’s top offensive players that might have marked his strongest contribution. The other big hole the Lightning must fill is that of Palat, who landed in New Jersey after the Lightning were unable to re-sign him. Veteran newcomer Ian Cole could also contribute on the penalty kill, but eating up the contributions of a player who tallied 22:27 of ice time a game will take a little extra from the entire defenseman corps. Sergachev will see tougher matchups defensively and likely take on more of McDonagh’s penalty-killing responsibilities. More will be asked of Mikhail Sergachev in filling McDonagh’s left defenseman spot behind Victor Hedman.
McDonagh’s lead-by-example approach and level-headedness brought great value to the locker room. He was responsible on both sides of the ice, and two postseasons ago, he arguably was the Lightning’s top all-around player. His defensive strengths sometimes overshadowed his heady ability to push the puck up the ice and create offense. McDonagh was the team’s top penalty killer and shot blocker. The salary cap doesn’t allow the Lightning to keep their entire roster, and there regularly are offseason roster casualties, but the loss of defenseman Ryan McDonagh hits differently.
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