Lightning strikes in Chicago
LIGHTNING 3 2 BLACKHAWKS
Hobbled goaltender and all, Tampa takes Cup final series lead
CHICAGO— After everything — the goaltender roulette in Game 2, the careful obfuscation between games, Ben Bishop doing his self-described Marshawn Lynch routine at the morning skate, like a giant apologetic puppy who won’t tell you what he did with your slippers — Bishop was in the Tampa Bay Lightning net on Monday night. It was a good thing, too, because lord knows somebody had to be.
Bishop left Game 2 in the third period, came back, left again, spent a couple days not visibly limping or anything, was a question mark until game time, and strapped his six-foot-seven frame between the pipes, almost literally. The Lightning took a 1-0 lead in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup final on a long-bomb Victor Hedman pass and a precise Ryan Callahan shot — Hedman probably tosses his keys to the valet from three blocks away — then came the flood.
Chicago descended like a tornado, and the chances just kept coming. Marian Hossa faked out Bishop badly and was tripped by Braydon Coburn at the last second, so he slipped the puck an inch wide of the wide open net. Teuvo Teravainen missed on a rebound that had Bishop scrambling, into the exact same space Hossa’s shot travelled. Brad Richards from the point, just wide. Brandon Saad, outside of the post.
Bishop was getting up like he was filled with sand; he played a little more straight-legged at times; he couldn’t extend his legs every time. Worse, Tampa stopped skating and went 13:17 without a shot on goal: the Blackhawks reeled off 19 in the period, like a shooting gallery. But only one got through, a Richards point shot that hit Bishop’s glove and simply fell through it, which happens to the big lug once in a while. After the first period it was 1-1.
But Andrei Vasilevskiy, the hulking 20-year-old Siberian mega-prospect, stayed put.
Bishop was sitting back in his net rather than challenging — he stopped an Antoine Vermette breakaway that way, as Vermette inexplicably ignored Marian Hossa alone to his right — and folded over here and there, like a great white and blue padded accordion. He barely handled the puck, which he usually does with alacrity. Lightning coach Jon Cooper told NBC, “We wouldn’t put somebody in there if we were putting him in harm’s way. He’s fine. He’s six-foot-seven. It takes him a little longer to get up than most guys.”
Uh-huh. This was a good time to remember that before he became a loquacious, charming, successful hockey coach, Jon Cooper was a loquacious, charming, successful defence attorney.
Vasilevskiy, though, has only appeared in nine games since the beginning of March, three of the last four in mop-up duty. It’s June.
Bishop, meanwhile, looked like he was wrestling with all the vulnerabilities of the species. He got his head knocked by a driving Saad late in the second — not too hard, but Bishop lay down flat as the crowd booed fiercely and Chicago coach Joel Quenneville did a lunatic vaudeville routine with a kicked towel on the Blackhawks bench. In fairness to Bishop, you’d probably take every chance to lie down and get a rest, too.
And quietly, the Lightning owned the second period almost as much as Chicago owned the first, but hit a post of their own, and couldn’t score. And still, with every minute that went by, they were risking the game, and the series, on a giant goaltender who couldn’t move very well. Bishop’s size means that even when he’s not technically great he can be good, because he simply blots out the sun. He was gutting this out,
But this was a real gamble by Cooper. Bishop stopped Saad on a 2on-1, doorstep, got across. He stopped a drive and had no idea where it was. Finally, Anton Stral- man had a messy shift — had the puck, could have cleared it, fell down — and Hossa hit Saad in the slot and he beat Bishop with a pretty snap shot. 2-1 Chicago. A fully healthy goalie might not have stopped that one.
Tampa scored 13 seconds later, though, on a rush by the triplets, finished by Ondrej Palat. A few minutes after that, Steven Stamkos hit a post; with six minutes left, he couldn’t hit a bouncing puck in the slot. Tampa protected Bishop at the other end, getting in passing lanes, holding them out.
And then Hedman, whose postseason has been glorious, carried the puck from his own blue line, into the Blackhawks zone, straight at two Chicago defenders who kept backing up. One of them was Kyle Cuminsky, pressed into service after Johnny Oduya was hurt in the second period. Hedman swerved left, carried on, and found Cedric Paquette back to his right, and with 3:11 left in the game Tampa took a 3-2 lead.
Bishop made 36 saves, and they held on. This Tampa team is young, yes. They make mistakes, yes. But with an injured goalie they withstood some of the best stuff the Blackhawks could throw at them, and now lead the Stanley Cup final two games to one. The goalie was big. The team was big, too.