While the Bruins may have handled Tampa Bay this season — particularly at home — the Lightning have a very good team that just happens to be clicking on all cylinders right now.
They seemingly have it all. They’ve got balanced scoring. They’ve got a strong defensive system. They’ve got terrific special teams. And perhaps most importantly, they have one of the hottest goalies left in the league.
Paul Kennedy, who is the Lightning rinkside reporter for FOXSportsFlorida.com, knows the Bolts better than just about anyone. He was nice enough to answer some questions for NESN.com about how the Lightning should match up with the Bruins as the series nears.
NESN.com: In Boston, everybody’s been celebrating the accomplishments thus far of Tim Thomas — and rightfully so. However, down in Tampa, Dwayne Roloson, who is four years older than Thomas, has posted better save percentage and goals-against numbers through the first two rounds. How incredible has this run from Roloson been, and did anyone realistically see this coming?
Paul Kennedy: Dwayne Roloson‘s run is of historical proportions. In upsetting Pittsburgh and Washington — both higher seeds — the 41-year-old Rolly earned eight wins. In NHL lore, only two men matched that number after turning 40 and just one topped it: Jacques Plante totaled eight for Scotty Bowman‘s 1969 Blues at the age of 40, while a 42-year-old Dominik Hasek backstopped the Red Wings to 10 playoff wins in 2007.
Rallying from a 3-1 deficit against the Penquins, Tampa Bay rode Rolly in the series-deciding climax, winning Game 7 1-0. On that night inside the Consol Energy Center, Roloson became the oldest player the NHL had ever seen to post a Game 7 shutout, surpassing Toronto’s Johnny Bower in ’64. Who could have foreseen a midseason acquisition from the snows of Long Island rewriting the record books?
In good humor, Dwayne may be relieved to be matched with the Bruins, for all the questions about his age now will be shifted to the B’s Mark Recchi, a comparatively grizzled 43 and the oldest man skating in the NHL playoffs.
Rolly’s acquisition on Jan. 1 from the New York Islanders infused the Lightning with confidence, a jolt that began when he debuted three nights later in Washington offering an overtime shutout of the Capitals. In retrospect, that performance foreshadowed Tampa Bay’s playoff sweep of the Caps.
With long, graying locks and a playoff beard, Roloson has stepped out of a True Grit casting call. This isn’t his first roundup. In 2006, he backstopped Edmonton to the Finals, only to suffer a knee injury before Carolina prevailed in seven games.
He now faces what well may be his one last chance at engraving his name on the Stanley Cup. Rolly speaks of his “12-hour rule.” Regardless of what happens on the ice, good or bad, he discards the result and moves ahead, fully fresh. And playing every minute of every postseason outing thus far, he stopped 366 of 389 shots. As in math class, that 94.1 percent is an A average. Survive Boston and Roloson captures the Conn Smythe, too.
NESN.com: Regular-season games often mean very little come playoff time, but they are still the only points of reference we have. The Lightning beat Tuukka Rask in November but lost three times to Tim Thomas, including an 8-1 Bruins win in December. Obviously, Mike Smith and Dan Ellis won’t be allowing eight goals at any point in this series, but do you think those two losses play any factor at all in the Lightning’s confidence heading into the series?
PK: Hart Trophy finalist Marty St. Louis is the first to point out that Tampa Bay has never faced Boston “in the playoffs, and we’re undefeated there in the playoffs.” That mind-set reflects the fact that no opponent has so dominated the Lightning during regular-season play as have the Bruins.
This almost appears a typo — but it’s accurate: since entering the NHL in 1992, the Bolts own four wins in Boston. Vincent Lecavalier wears No. 4. Bobby Orr wore No. 4. Tampa Bay owns four. That is a 4-22-9 record in the “old and new” Gardens. But check out the stat sheet from the last encounter between the two teams, played in Boston on March 3. With Tampa Bay skating into town on a back-to-back, the Bruins prevailed 2-1 in a contest that could have gone either way. Tim Thomas and Mike Smith each faced 28 shots. And while the Bolts’ bread-and-butter power play finished 0-for-4, it was newly acquired defenseman Eric Brewer who tallied the Lightning’s only goal.
Beginning this season as the captain of the St. Louis Blues, Brewer has been the most significant trade deadline acquisition in the NHL. He’s rock solid in concert with Rolly, a 6-foot-4 defensive presence with a taste for finishing checks, and a steady “think-first” performer on the penalty kill. To Brewer, Tampa Bay is 0-1 on Boston’s home ice, and he’s now experienced two successful playoff rounds with his fellow blueliners.
NESN.com: Patrice Bergeron is likely out for the Bruins to start this series as he deals with a concussion. He’s a force offensively, but he’s also one of the best defensive forwards in the NHL. What kind of havoc could the Lightning’s scorers wreak without a player like Bergeron to interrupt their game?
PK: First off, when last reported, Zdeno Chara will play. If I had a nickel for every time I’ve heard a veteran NHLer remark they’d love to add him, I could ride the T free for life. I recall vividly, when with Ottawa, Chara decking Vincent Lecavalier in a fair-is-fair, toe-to-toe fight. His name is first on the Lightning board. Secondly, Boston has seen the tape and knows you must hit Tampa Bay to be successful. The goal is not to intimidate — that will not happen — but to disrupt and slow down an attack with flash. The Lightning can take the hits. If you cross the line and head to the box, the Bolts will make you pay with the NHL’s most devastating power play.
That’s Claude Julien‘s fine line. Here will be the first line out in Game 1. How will you stop it? Steven Stamkos-Lecavalier-St. Louis. Stamkos’ 94 goals in regular-season play over the past two years are the most of any NHL skater. Lecavalier and St. Louis will both have statues erected on the shores of Tampa, and St. Louis is headed to the Hall of Fame. He’s already won the Hart. And the Ross. And the Pearson. And the Byng.
How about Ryan Malone–Nate Thompson–Teddy Purcell? If you turn the other cheek, you’ll quickly run out of cheeks. Purcell also skates with Vinny. Malone sets up his grill and the lawn chair in front of the crease and there’s not a thing you can do about it, and Thompson signed a new contract with Steve Yzerman a couple of months ago after — are you ready? — being waived by the Islanders just over a year ago. In multiple combinations there’s the size and toughness of Adam Hall, a Stanley Cup finalist with Pittsburgh. Finally, and very importantly it appears that Simon Gagne, the brilliantly gifted but unfortunately concussed forward, returns after being shaken in the opening game of the sweep of Washington. The longtime Flyer appeared in the finals just last season. At even strength or with the man advantage, there are so many weapons.
NESN.com: When people think of Tampa Bay’s offense, they think Steven Stamkos, Vincent Lacavalier and Martin St. Louis. They may not think Sean Bergenheim, but he has seven goals in 11 playoff games. He had just 14 goals in 80 games this year. How has this offensive explosion happened?
PK: When the playoffs began, fully half of Tampa Bay’s roster had never appeared in a postseason game. That included nine skaters in all. Just like in the comic books, it was “Boom-Pow-Smash” and a 3-1 Pittsburgh advantage. Next thing you know, they score a record eight goals in Pittsburgh, chase Marc-Andre Fleury from net and haven’t lost since. Ya think the light’s come on?
As long as we’re running the numbers, here’s a great one. Winger Sean Bergenheim, a playoff neophyte, is turning into hockey’s version of Big Papi. At 22, having scored all of 14 goals in 80 regular-season games, Bergy’s erupted for seven in just 11 playoff outings. The only guy who ever scored just 14 during the regular campaign and then tallied more than this “Flying Fin” was Philly’s Scott Hartnell — with eight last year! This is waaay over the Green Monster.
The key to his success is found in four factors: First, his speed — he can turn defensemen and multiple times has blurred down the slot for breakaways. Secondly, Bergenheim will go to the net and take a stick to the chops to reach blue ice. He’s got guts and dreams of getting his name on the Cup. Third, his centerman is the grossly underrated and fearlessly determined Dominic Moore of Harvard’s class of 2003. Over his six prior seasons, Moore has donned the sweaters of the Rangers, Penguins, Wild, Maple Leafs, Sabres, Panthers and Canadiens. He wins draws, plays puck possession, will wallop with his 200 pounds on the forecheck and has a snazzy chemistry with Bergy that lights the lamp. They score in tandem in the chaos of the crease.
And fourthly, if the name Steve Downie doesn’t ring a bell, just ask NHL hockey ops czar Collie Campbell. On Collie’s speed dial for past transgressions, Downie skates to the edge, but has blossomed into a multi-dimensional player. He’s good for five hits a game and a couple of quality chances. The Downie-Moore-Bergenheim trio will be eating up much of Claude Julien’s video time.
NESN.com: The Bruins-Lightning series will feature two very dangerous and strong teams, and after second-round sweeps, both teams are in for a more challenging series. Who will win the series, how many games will it go and why?
PK: Growing up in Washington, D.C., with my Air Force dad at the Pentagon, I used to rig my radio to listen to the Phil Esposito–Wayne Cashman–Ken Hodge Bruin teams. Even decorated the school locker with Boston greats. But heavens to Yaz, there is something special about this Lightning team that’s nearly identical to the swell of 2004.
Tampa Bay surged to an unexpected second-round sweep of the Habs that year, a Montreal team coached by a fellow named Claude Julien. They survived as grinding a seven-game series as ever witnessed against Keith Primeau‘s Flyers and went on to allow a 41-year-old Dave Andreychuk to finally raise the Stanley Cup. General manager Steve Yzerman is a finalist for NHL executive of the year. His first-year head coach Guy Boucher was tutoring in Quebec Juniors just two years ago. Marty St. Louis is a nominee for both the Hart and Lady Byng. Steven Stamkos has been voted by his peers as a finalist for the Lindsay as the players’ MVP. And you’ve got Rooster Cogburn in goal.
If you can find a ticket to the Blue Storm on the Bay, consider yourself one of the 20,000 fortunate few. In the words of Washington’s dazed but prescient Bruce Boudreau, “do not underestimate this team.”
If Tampa Bay can split one of the first two games in Boston, they can win this in six. I think they will.
Thanks again to Paul Kennedy for answering our questions. Please check back before every game of the Bruins-Lightning series for more Across Enemy Lines. You also can read NESN.com Bruins reporter Douglas Flynn’s contributions to this feature on FOXSportsFlorida.com.
