Lightning hold off rallying Pens, tie East finals
After getting practically skated out of their own building in Game 3, the Tampa Bay Lightning were awfully resilient and got back to their style of game to earn a 4-3 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 4 on Friday. The Eastern Conference finals are now even, but it wasn’t necessarily the cleanest of wins for Tampa Bay.
The Lightning were definitely the better team through two periods, but they let up just enough in the third to open the door for Pittsburgh. The Pittsburgh Penguins nearly bulldozed right through that door in the final 20 minutes.
The Pens scored three goals in the third period and very nearly completed the comeback in the dying minutes, but the early deficit was too much to overcome. So was Andrei Vasilevskiy , who earned his first career postseason win in a game he actually started after finally getting the goal support he needed.
Now the series shifts back to Pittsburgh all square, with both teams knowing they are a mere two wins away from reaching the Stanley Cup Final.
Here are seven takeaways from what turned out to be a pretty wild Game 4:
1. Lightning gave Penguins a taste of their own medicine early: In a series where speed is the name of the game, the Lightning showed a little push-back and reminded the Penguins that they can skate, too. After getting dominated in Game 3, the Lightning made sure to have a great start, too.
They had an even better start than they anticipated with Ryan Callahan’s tip-in goal just 27 seconds into the game.
That helped get the Lightning rolling and they kept the pressure on throughout the first period. Andrej Sustr added a second goal off of a spectacular passing play and Tampa had to have some belief that it could take control of the game.
The Lightning were great in transition and put pressure on the Penguins’ defense, just as the Pens try to do against all of their opponents. The first period ended with Tampa pouring 18 shots on goal. After getting so badly outshot in Game 3, that was a huge boost for the team and put the Lightning on a path toward victory.
2. The Penguins took advantage when the Lightning let up: The Lightning had great pressure in the first and second periods, but they let up a bit in the third period. First, the Penguins made a goalie change, putting Marc-Andre Fleury in after rookie Matt Murray gave up four goals on 30 shots through 40 minutes.
That helped send a message to the Penguins that they were still in the game. Just 1:18 into the third period, Phil Kessel got the rally started with an absolutely devastating wrist shot that handcuffed Vasilevskiy.
The Penguins kept the pressure on and Evgeni Malkin made it 4-2 with 8:47 remaining to narrow the gap. Then Alex Killorn took an ill-timed tripping penalty on the ensuing faceoff, giving the Penguins an immediate power play after cutting the deficit to two goals. Sure enough, the Penguins added another goal as Chris Kunitz tapped home a rebound with 6:52 to play in the game.
Pittsburgh ended the third period with 16 shots on goal, but couldn’t find the equalizer in the closing minutes. Kris Letang , however, came literally inches away from tying things up in the closing minutes.
3. Andrei Vasilevskiy ends winless streak in postseason starts: Coming into Game 4, Vasilevskiy had started three previous playoff games, including each of the last two games in this series and Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final last year. He had played fairly well in all of those games, but was still searching for his first win.
That came Friday night in a 35-save effort. It may have gotten a little sketchy late in the game, but Vasilevskiy was so good in the opening 40 minutes. He made 22 saves over that span, perhaps none better than this stretching toe save on Kris Letang in the first period:
Vasilevskiy continues to prove that the Lightning can still be mostly fine without Ben Bishop despite Bishop’s utter dominance to date. Would they rather have their veteran in there? Sure, but they don’t need to worry about Vasilevskiy. The 21-year-old now has a .932 save percentage in five postseason appearances this year.
4. Trevor Daley left Game 4 with an injury: In one of the biggest negatives of the night for the Penguins — aside from the loss — was defenseman Trevor Daley’s injury in the second period. He got hurt in a collision with Ryan Callahan along the boards when it appeared his left leg got pinned awkwardly as Callahan followed through with the contact. Daley was unable to put any weight on the leg and did not return to the game.
Head coach Mike Sullivan said he did not have an update regarding Daley’s health. If he’s out, the Penguins just lost one of their top four defenseman who has become an important part of their blue line. Any time depth on the back end takes a hit, it’s hard to make up even if the Penguins have had some experience with this in these playoffs.
5. Jonathan Drouin’s incredible backcheck may have been bigger than his goal: Jonathan Drouin made two great plays in a short span during the second period. First, he showed his speed when the Lightning turned the puck over on their power play. It allowed Eric Fehr a chance at a breakaway while the score was only 2-0 at that point. Drouin turned on the jets and actually caught Fehr just before he was about to put a shot on goal. Drouin was able to lift Fehr’s stick and disrupt the shot, possibly saving a goal.
Not long after that, Drouin found himself in front of the Penguins net. When his pass deflected off of Ondrej Palat and right back to Drouin, the young forward deposited the puck into the wide-open net. It was a lucky bounce, but that was such an important swing in the game. If Fehr scores to make it 2-1 with a shorthanded goal, the outcome could have been much different.
Here’s Drouin’s rather unique (and a little lucky) goal:
6. Tyler Johnson had to play through an uncomfortable injury: The Tampa Bay Lightning had to wait until the last possible second to turn their lineup card in because they weren’t sure if Tyler Johnson could play. The talented forward took a puck to the face during warmup when a shot hit the cross bar and bounced right into Johnson’s mouth.
They put him in the lineup, but he wasn’t on the bench for the start of the game as he got patched up and had his helmet fitted with a cage. Johnson had to fiddle with different facial protection early in the game. He couldn’t see through the cage well enough, so the equipment manager was able to quickly switch him out to a full face shield.
Johnson continued bleeding throughout the game, but managed to also get on the scoresheet with a goal to make it 4-0 in the third period. Nikita Kucherov’s hard pass basically hit Johnson right in the shin guards and caught the right kind of bounce. That’s not a bad reward after having your face mashed up a bit.
7. Do the Penguins make a change in net? Marc-Andre Fleury came in during the third period and stopped all seven shots he saw in relief of Matt Murray. The decision to pull Murray was for various reasons, but coach Mike Sullivan did note after the game he saw it as an opportunity to get Fleury some game action. He also noted that he wasn’t disappointed with the way Murray played in the game, but he did not say anything about who would start Game 5.
The question exists now, but based on the entire postseason, Murray still should be the guy in net. He made 26 saves Friday night and Fleury has now only played 20 minutes and seen seven shots since late March. Even though Fleury is the veteran guy, it’s hard to imagine Murray lost the net based on what happened Friday.
