Mishkin's Extra Shift: Lightning 3, Avalanche 2 - Game 5

Gutsy. That's the best word to describe this Lightning victory, one that staved off elimination and ensured a Game Six on Sunday back in Tampa. They did it playing a hard, committed physical game. They battled to win loose pucks all over the ice, took the body on Avalanche puck carriers to disrupt plays. Based on the eye test, they owned more offensive zone puck possession than in any of the previous four games, thanks to their willingness to cycle down low and grind out shifts. Twice they saw a one-goal lead vanish in frustrating fashion, but they didn't let either circumstance affect their determination. The Lightning showed their championship mettle in Game Five.

As I wrote in my last Extra Shift, Game Four (before overtime) featured the Lightning's best defensive performance to date in the series. Their Game Five showing might have been even better. Colorado is simply too fast and too skilled to be shut down completely. And the Avs had sequences in which they forechecked well and held pucks in the offensive zone. But those instances were intermittent. As they did during regulation of Game Four, the Lightning again kept many of Colorado's shots to the outside. Both Avalanche goals came on bad bounces for Tampa Bay. In the second period, Cale Makar's right circle shot knuckle-balled off Ross Colton's glove, crossing up Andrei Vasilevskiy. He stopped the initial shot, but Val Nichushkin knocked in the rebound. Makar was given credit for the other goal, which banked into the net off Erik Cernak. Otherwise, Vasilevskiy was flawless in Game Five.
Vasilevskiy stopped some Grade-A looks, but throughout the night, his teammates helped limit the number of Colorado's chances. They checked. They avoided costly turnovers. And, in taking a page out of Colorado's playbook, they forced the Avs to spend a number of shifts in the defensive zone.
Riley Nash's series debut came in Game Three and ever since Jon Cooper put Nash with Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and Pat Maroon, the three players have consistently cycled pucks in the offensive zone. They did it again in Game Five. Early on, Cooper swapped Anthony Cirelli and Nick Paul. Paul, with Brandon Hagel and Alex Killorn, along with the Cirelli- Corey Perry-Colton and Steven Stamkos-Nikita Kucherov-Ondrej Palat lines, all followed the lead of the Bellemare line. Although many of those sequences didn't always lead to shots or scoring chances, they effectively kept play in the Colorado end. And out of the Tampa Bay defensive zone.
Another key was the Lightning's start. In Games One and Two, the Avs flew out of the gates and grabbed early multi-goal leads. In Game Five, the Lightning changed that narrative. They received two early power play chances (on which they were unsuccessful), but they didn't let Colorado build momentum off those kills. Then, just past the halfway point of the first, the Avs went on their first power play. It was an important moment for the Lightning and they got through it unscathed, holding the Avalanche to just one SOG.
So unlike the first two games, the Avs didn't strike early. Instead, the game was scoreless through the first 15 minutes. Then, following a clean breakout from the d-zone, the Lightning took the lead. Mikhail Sergachev passed the puck to Perry near the red line. Four Avalanche players converged on Perry, who wired it cross ice to an unguarded Jan Rutta. Rutta had room to bring the puck into the offensive zone and he fired a right circle shot past Darcy Kuemper.
The Avs tied things at 5:07 of the second. The Lightning were not happy with an icing call that led to the Nichushkin goal. Paul appeared to outrace Makar to the puck, but the linesman whistled an icing. Paul did touch the puck first, so the Lightning felt the ensuing face-off should occur at center ice. Instead, the draw came into the Lightning's zone and, seconds later, the game was tied.
The Avs surged and just over a minute later, they drew a penalty while possessing the puck in the offensive zone. During the delayed sequence, however, J.T. Compher grabbed Killorn's stick so Killorn couldn't touch the puck. Compher was correctly sent off for holding the stick. It was an extremely costly penalty. It erased the pending Colorado power play. Then, during the four-on-four, Makar tripped Palat. That put the Lightning on a four-on-three power play. They took advantage of the open ice and maintained possession in the offensive zone. Kucherov drilled in a one-timer from the high slot at 8:10.
The Lightning navigated through another Colorado power play late in the period and, for the second straight game, took a 2-1 lead into the second intermission. But just like in Game Four, the Avs tied the game early in the third. Another frustrating bounce went against the Lightning when the rebound of Makar's shot banked in off Cernak at 2:31.
But the Lightning didn't get rattled. They withstood a mini Colorado push and quickly leveled the ice. They owned a 22-15 shot attempt edge in the third as they managed the puck cleanly and forced the Avs to defend. And, for much of the frame, Colorado did defend well. Although Sergachev hit the post on an isolated opportunity, Lightning scoring chances were hard to come by. But there was a blown coverage on the winning goal. With Victor Hedman at the bottom of the left circle, Makar and Nichushkin both left the middle of the ice to pursue Hedman. That left Palat open in the slot and Hedman got him the puck. He fired a one-timer past Kuemper at 13:38.
The Lightning closed it out from there. With just under four minutes left, they allowed two shots during an extended d-zone sequence, but Vasilevskiy stopped the attempts from Bo Byram and MacKinnon. Those were Colorado's final two SOG in the game. The Lightning were helped when the Avs were called for too many men at 17:17. In the Game Four non-call, Nazem Kadri came on early for MacKinnon. This time, two Avalanche players jumped on when Darren Helm went off. While the Lightning didn't score on the power play, the man advantage took two additional minutes off the clock. But the time the penalty ended, the Avs only had 43 seconds left to try and tie things. A couple of late offside infractions foiled their comeback bid and the clock ran down to zero.
There will be a Game Six in Tampa on Sunday. But as Stamkos said in his postgame interview, "we realized how hard we had to work to get (the win) tonight. We're going to have to replicate that at home."
Lightning Radio Three Stars of the Game (as selected by Phil Esposito):
1. Andrei Vasilevskiy - Lightning. 35 saves.
2. Ondrej Palat - Lightning. GWG.
3. Cale Makar - Avalanche. Goal and assist.