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Strength on strength Lightning's offense will be challenged by Devils' defensePosted: Wednesday April 23, 2003 10:36 PM
The Lightning rallied to win four in a row against the Washington Capitals in the first round, and as Martin St. Louis said after losing the first two games of the series, they "figured out what intensity level was necessary in the playoffs." St. Louis certainly elevated his play once head coach John Tortorella moved him onto the top line with Vincent Lecavalier and Vaclav Prospal. St. Louis scored three of the four game-winning goals, including the series-clincher in triple overtime. Against the Devils, however, St. Louis and his mates might have to up the ante again when it comes to effort and energy. The Devils exhibited their ability to shut down an opponent by blanking the Bruins in two of the five games. Their success against Boston was due largely to clamping down on Joe Thornton. They kept the Bruins' captain off balance throughout, disrupting any offensive flow Boston hoped to establish and crushing any thoughts of advancing. Which brings into focus the main matchup of this series -- Lecavalier's line going against one of the best defensive forwards in the game, John Madden, and legendary backline stopper Scott Stevens. Illustrating Madden's importance to the Devils' overall scheme is the fact that he averaged more minutes per game than any other forward, including Patrik Elias and Joe Nieuwendyk, during the regular season. Tortorella's adjustment with St. Louis went largely uncontested by the Caps. That won't happen here. It will be interesting to track the in-game adjustments in this series, especially if Tortorella again shifts his top six forwards. Devils bench boss Pat Burns has more depth up front at his disposal, especially with Sergei Brylin returning to the lineup after missing 30 games and the first round recovering from wrist surgery. He is capable in several roles, with Burns commenting that he is the Devils' most versatile player. Layoff-induced rust notwithstanding, Brylin's availability gives Burns more flexibility in his situational matchup capabilities. Defensively, the biggest challenge for the Lightning is surviving the wide-body forecheckers on the Devils' third and fourth lines. In addition to Jay Pandolfo and Grant Marshall on Madden's line, Turner Stevenson and Pascal Rheaume are big guys who are effective at fatiguing opposing defensemen with relentless offensive zone pursuit. The defensive pairing of Jassen Cullimore and Pavel Kubina played exceptionally well in the opening round and are vitally important against the Devils. As are the forwards of the Lightning, both in supplying strong support on the backcheck and using their speed up ice on the forecheck and on the rush. That is one area that the Lightning took advantage of against Washington -- using their team speed at the forward position to generate turnovers. They need to put their speed to good use in this series as well, even though the Devils are much more disciplined with the puck than the Caps. Still, when you talk about this series, the conversation ultimately ends up centering on the two goaltenders. Martin Brodeur stands alone as the only goaltender left in the playoffs with a Stanley Cup on his resume. By contrast, his counterpart in this series, Nikolai Khabibulin, is coming off his first playoff series victory. After a sluggish start, Khabibulin got stronger with each successive game. He can't afford to ease into this series -- nor can the Lightning -- because Brodeur historically is ready from the outset. Darren Eliot, a former NHL goaltender, is a hockey analyst for SI.com. Eliot will provide Stanley Cup Playoffs commentary throughout the postseason and is also broadcasting games for NHL Radio. |
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