Lightning Stars Know They Face a Tall Task in Taking On Zdeno Chara in Conference Final

BOSTON — The Lightning know full well they have a big challenge facing them in the Eastern Conference final. And they mean that literally.

Tampa Bay boasts one of the most talented forward corps in the league, but those forwards know they are in for a challenge when they face Boston blueliner Zdeno Chara, and taking on that 6-foot-9 behemoth every other night for the next couple weeks is a task not even the best forwards in the NHL enjoy.

“I don’t know if you look forward going against Zdeno Chara every night,” Lightning forward Steven Stamkos said after Tampa’s practice at TD Garden on Friday afternoon. “It’s going to be a challenge, and I think we’re ready for it. He’s obviously a great defenseman in this league. He’s a great shut-down guy. What makes him so good other than his obvious size and his physicality is his long stick. You think you have a step on him, and there comes that seven-foot stick knocking the puck out of the way.”

Tampa Bay captain Vincent Lecavalier has battled Chara for years, even dropping the gloves twice with the big blueliner when Chara was with Ottawa, including a bout in the 2006 playoffs. And Lecavalier also has plenty of respect for the former Norris Trophy winner who is a finalist for the award again this year.

“He’s a huge defenseman,” Lecavalier said. “He’s obviously very strong and has a long stick. It’s tough to play against him. We’re going to try to definitely put the puck behind him as much as we can.

“He’s got offensive skill, defensive skill, he’s got everything about him. A great defenseman,” Lecavalier added. “We’re going to have to try to tire him out as much as we can, try to make him skate because we know he definitely plays a lot of minutes.”

The Lightning have overcome the challenges of some pretty good defensemen already this postseason, but know Chara will be even tougher to overcome.

“It’s going to be a challenge,” Stamkos said. “We obviously have to adjust our game, get in front of the net and try to keep the puck away from him because he makes great passes as well. It’s not going to be easy, but you’re going to have to go against defensemen like that. We’ve gone through multiple different guys. We had [Kris] Letang and [Brooks] Orpik in the first round [against Pittsburgh], Mike Green and [John] Carlson [in the second round against Washington]. Now you have kind of a different monster in Chara, so you have to adjust your game and hopefully it will work out for us.”

The respect is mutual, as Chara also recognizes how difficult it is going to be to shut down Tampa’s high-powered offense.

“It’s a challenge with the whole offensive corps they have,” Chara said. “They have great veterans, players that can make a difference, so we just have to play hard and take away as much time and space from them as possible.”

The Lightning has used Stamkos, Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis together on a line frequently this postseason. Claude Julien is sure to have his top defense pairing of Chara and Dennis Seidenberg out opposite them as much as possible in the series, so expect plenty of collisions between Tampa’s irresistible force of talented forwards and Boston’s immovable object on the blue line.