NHL Stanley Cup Final Game Night: 9-25-20 Lightning v Stars
Justice.
TB-5
DAL-4 (OT)
Tampa Bay Leads the Series 3-1
Andrei Vasilevskiy allowed 4 goals on 30 shots for the win. Not his prettiest game. Not his best game. But there were a couple of moments of pure unvarnished Vasilarceny that gave the Lightning the chance to stay in this game and eventually take the win.
First Period
7:17 DAL Klingberg (4), (Lindell)
18:28 DAL Pavelski (11), (Benn, Radulov)
19:27 TB Point (12), (Palat, Shattenkirk)
Second Period
2:08 TB Point (13), (Killorn, Kucherov)(PP)
8:26 DAL Perry (3), (Seguin, Janmark)
18:54 TB Gourde (7), (Kucherov, Sergachev)(PP)
Third Period
6:41 TB Killorn (5), (Sergachev, Cirelli)
11:35 DAL Pavelski (12), (Seguin, Heiskanen)
Overtime
6:34 TB Shattenkirk (3), (Hedman, Maroon)(PP)
Alex Killorn and Kevin Shattenkirk were the game's first and second stars.
It was a gritty, resilient effort by the Lightning who at times in this game fell victim to to some poor puck luck, some self-inflicted wounds of their own making, and some terrible officiating. Don't let anyone (at NBCSN) tell you different.
The Lightning again dominated much of this game and again Dallas had a witch's brew of puck luck and opportunism that could've put the Lightning on the road to ruin. They staked themselves to a 2-0 lead with an opening marker that came on their third goal of the series where a blocked shot rebounded right back to the stick of the shooter for an immediate follow-up chance on an unset Vasilevskiy. And then they got a short developing 2-on-1 goal where Rutta failed to identify the 2-on-1 and did effectively nothing to cut the pass over. All against the run of play. A lesser team might've sagged. Brayden Point made Anton Khudobin look like a road cone on a breakaway with under a minute to play in the First Period and then had a masterful mid air tip-in goal on the power play early in the Second Period to erase the early deficit.
Dallas came back and quickly re-established a 3-2 lead on a Seguin breakaway where Vasilevskiy got pulled out of position and the puck got left in the crease for Perry to tap home. Again, a lesser team sags. The Lightning kept working and eventually got a power play opportunity where Yanni Gourde got some puck luck where a shot pass accidentally spiked off a Dallas skate straight to him for a half naked net with Khudobin out of position. 3-3.
Alex Killorn subsequently got the Lightning their first lead of the night at 4-3 early in the Third Period on a bit of a howler with Khudobin way deep in his net and off his angle. But, again, Dallas quickly answered less than five minutes later with more puck luck as a Pavelski shot went off Vasilevskiy's stick, off Shattenkirk, and in. Again, a lesser team sags. The Lightning just grab their lunch pails and get back to work.
And then, all the foolishness at the end of the Third Period happened. The Lightning, poised to spring a 2-on-1 with Brayden Point screaming into the rush saw it go by the boards when Perry "hooked" him in the tender bits and he fell to the ice. Cowardly NHL officials called Perry for "hooking" and Point for "embellishment" so as to avoid giving the Lightning a late power play that might decide the game. The correct call was "spearing" and Perry should've been gone for five and should be suspended tomorrow for G6. But, it's a cowardly league that thinks it's more important to have manufactured parity than to legislate on-ice attempted castration out of the game. But I digress... and we moved to 4-on-4.
Right off the faceoff in Overtime, Sergachev took a holding call on a breakaway to give Dallas a 55 second 4-on-3 man advantage. On its face, there's nothing wrong with that call, except the context where you had Brayden Point sitting in the box still icing down his family jewels because you called him for "embellishment" rather than make a call that might sway the game. Hmmmm, might giving a team a 4-on-3 have been a bigger gift than a regular 5-on-4 power play? Refer to how many 4-on-3 PP's on regular season OT go for that answer. A lesser team gets unfocused and lets anger take over. The Lightning buckle down and make the kill.
Less than three minutes later Jamie Benn Russian leg swept Tyler Johnson hard. Grabbed him with the free hand. Used his leg to leverage Johnson's legs out from under him. A dangerous looking play, and truly a stupid play under the circumstances as the refs dodged a major bullet when Dallas didn't score on the 4-on-3. You knew they'd be looking to make it up to Tampa Bay given the original botched "embellishment" on Point that started all the nonsense. Benn invited the call. The refs took him up on the invitation. Dallas (and certain bitter jerks at NBCSN) can cry all they want to about it, but at the end of the day they were handed a golden ticket on a 4-on-3 power play and their man advantage unit couldn't cash. Kevin Shattenkirk did on the resulting 5-on-4 power play. And that, boys and girls, is called justice.
Which brings us to Ed Olczyk. Sniffer of Matt Barzal's jock. Criticizer of every big save Andrei Vasilevskiy makes. Dude who looked like his favorite race horse had to be put down and made into glue right after Nikita Kucherov's GWG with eight seconds left in the Isles series. Why does Ed Olczyk hate the Lightning? Is it the 10-0 pasting the Lightning gave him when he was coaching the Pens back in the day? Is he just channeling his inner Mike Milbury, who had he not been bounced from the bubble for misogynist old-mannery would've been no-doubt filling Olczyk's role as NBCSN's designated Lightning hater as a multi-decade grudge holder against Phil Esposito and, ergo, the team Espo breathed life into? Did he get the bitterness by osmosis from ex-NBCSN co-worker Jeremy Roenick, who cried a river of tears after G7 of the 2004 ECF when the Lightning finally broke the back of "The Legend of Keith Primeau?" Or is that where ex-Flyer Keith Jones' animosity comes from? Either way, whatever possessed Ed Olczyk to try to act like the penalty on Benn was some kind of gross outrage, it just showed what we've known about Olczyk all along in these playoffs. Even the biggest skeptics I know now see it. Your bias is showing, "Edzo." Maybe you should join your buddy Milbury and leave the bubble, too. Because, heck, tomorrow might be a rough, rough night for you, champ. Almost like getting smashed 10-0 all over again.
And Doc Emrick, who signs off on behalf of Dimitry Afanasenkov, Andrei Zyuzin, Bob Beers, and the mighty Duke of Earl, it's admirable you try to defend your co-worker. However, even you, in your person, woman, man, camera, TV state of mind know what happened tonight, and you couldn't paint over it. Shame on you for carrying Olczyk's water.
Maybe we should thank Edzo. It's hard to imagine he'll top the foolishness we saw in Overtime tonight. So we'll get our rightful NBCSN bashing out of the way here in G4, and let the rest of the series be about this Lightning team that, contrary to what you might hear from some at NBCSN, doesn't quit or "go invisible" and just grabs their lunch pail and thus far has risen to the challenge again and again this postseason.
Tomorrow night.
Box score and extended statistics from NHL.com.