TAMPA – The flatlands of Florida offer few challenges for adventure seekers armed eyeing tall tasks.
With the highest elevation point sitting at 345-feet (Britton Hill outside of Lakewood), hikers have little trouble trekking to such heights.
So how is it the Tampa Bay Lightning keep finding ways to conquer any mountain in their path in these 2016 playoffs?
By taking a quick look at the challenge in their path before getting down to work.
That cultivated attitude has the Lightning sitting one game away from advancing to the Eastern Conference finals for the second consecutive season. Holding a 3-1 series edge against the New York Islanders, Tampa Bay can close out the series with a victory in Game 5 on Sunday at Amalie Arena.
With seven playoff victories to date and just two losses, the Lightning sit in a spot many would have said was nearly impossible when the calendar turned to April. Tampa Bay has been without defenseman Anton Stralman – who suffered a fractured fibula on March 25 – and captain and leading goal-scorer Steven Stamkos after he was diagnosed with a blood clot on April 1 that required surgery to remove the top rib.
Yet the Lightning are playing deep in to May while eying the opportunity to once again play in to June because collectively, they’re just going to work with whomever is in the lineup.
Injured defenseman Anton Stralman could return soon (Photo/Christine Gunn)
That’s particularly true on defense, where Tampa Bay has dressed nine different defensemen, tapping deep in to their depth to help offset the loss of Stralman, who continues to work his way back and could be ready to return in the near future.
Of the nine defensemen to dress, three have made their NHL playoff debut – Slater Koekkoek, Matt Taormina and Luke Witkowski.
“We’ve gone deep in our depth chart to play a lot of guys that haven’t had a ton of playoff experience,’’ Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said on a conference call with the media on Saturday. “They may not be getting mass minutes but they have been effective when they’ve been out there.’’
In many ways it’s been a defense by committee approach, particularly when veteran Matt Carle – who stepped up his game while taking Stralman’s regular spot alongside Hedman on the top pairing – came up injured unexpectedly and missed Games 2 and 3 of the series against New York.
The pairings then became a jumbled mess trying to figure out from shift to shift, with Hedman logging heavy minutes while seemingly paired with just about everybody else at some point.
“The one thing that is good about our D core is we have experience, guys that have been around awhile,’’ said defenseman Jason Garrison, who scored his first career overtime playoff goal in Game 4. “Guys have been in different situations and given different opportunities within our D. That way as a group we can kind of fill in for each other when there are injuries. That’s our big thing, we look out for each other, we communicate and try to make the game as easy as possible.”
“Playoffs are about keeping it simple and know your limits and try to eliminate the chances for.’’
Jason Garrison says, “Playoffs are about keeping it simple and know your limits and try to eliminate the chances for.’’ (Photo/Christine Gunn)
That mentality has reverberated through the forward group, as well, especially in the second round. After seeing the line of Nikita Kucherov, Tyler Johnson and Alex Killorn combine to score 10 of the 12 goals in a first-round victory against Detroit, the scoring has been more spread out against New York.
In the series against the Islanders the Lightning have goals from 10 different players, including two players who scored their first career playoff goals – Jonathan Drouin and Vladislav Namestnikov.
“We’re getting great team contributions from everybody,’’ Cooper said.
It’s that next-man-up mentality that has Tampa Bay one victory away from reaching the conference final for the fourth time in franchise history and third in the past six years.
But being up 3-1 in the series is no guarantee of moving on, even returning home for Game 5.
Tampa Bay found that out in the first round against Detroit, heading home with a 3-1 lead against the Red Wings only to play one of their worst games of the season. Only a heroic effort from goaltender Ben Bishop – who stopped three breakaways chances in the game – allowed the game to remain scoreless until Killorn scored the winner with 1:43 to go.
“[The fourth victory] is the toughest one to get,” Garrison said. “We have been in this position before. In the series against Detroit I don’t think we played our best. Bishop really stood on his head for us so we learn from that and not try to give away too many chances.’’
Sounds more like a walk to the peak of Britton Hill than another trek through the Blue Ridge Mountains.
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