For all the fans and media who complain that the players are boring interviews, it is lost that a dozen coaches in the league are absolute sos machines. This includes the two men at the helm of the Tampa Bay Lightning and New York Rangers, Jon Cooper and Gerard Gallant respectively. After game 4, they made a few more grade A jokes, a couple of which reminded us that this training thing is not rocket surgery.
Jon Cooper on the Rangers’ very good power play:
“I spoke to Captain Obvious today, he told me, ‘Keep them out of the power game and it will probably help you.’
A useful guy to have in the squad, that Captain Obvi.
Gallant, meanwhile, answered this question:
“Is there anything you can say to Mika (Zibanejad) in terms of being more effective against the Cirelli line?”
To which he replied:
“I tell him to always be more effective Mika. Seriously, ask the question better than that. Don’t you think I’m talking to our players? What are you going to do, they will work hard, Cirelli will try to close them as best he can. Everyone has a line of “That’s the way it is, you have to fight with things. But Mika is a professional hockey player and he’s very good at it.”
I’d like to point out that the answer turned out to be lighter than what is said in plain text, but still, the point of both guys is that there are only so many things you can do right now. Do the obvious better than your opposition. Guys know what their job is, it’s too late in the year for major system reviews, so once you’ve made your alignment decisions, the next most important thing is to find out how to deploy them. bodies in the game and then a series of tweaks.
So simple, right?
I think Cooper, however, likes to present this front more than he experiences it. The attitude he shows here belies what he really does behind the scenes to alter the look of his team as the series gets longer. He’s not afraid to make changes before they seem mandatory and obvious, although opposing coaches are more likely to get a few games in a series, to feel comfortable with what they expect from their opposition, and then to let go.
“Staying out of the box” aside, the Bolts’ death penalty has changed, with his D flexing more on Zibanejad, who spent the first couple of games in the series hitting a shot from the side as if was Alex Ovechkin. But Cooper also decided to move Steven Stamkos to the center in the hope of finding more offensive, which has been exactly what he has achieved, with the Stamkos groups creating a lot of chances and a few goals since then. Cooper has also alternated between dressing 11 D and 7 forwards at 12 and 6, compensating for how thin the group of strikers looked the second someone is injured or half limping.
The thing is, Cooper is always doing something, and that was a topic that Brian Engblom, Lightning analyst at Bally Sports and two-time Cup champion, talked about on our radio show today.
In short, Engblom thought that Lightning (justifiably) had a reputation in the Toronto and Florida series as a great defensive and blocking team, and began the Rangers series by trying to be the same group (after all, had worked), but led them to be on their heels. Each series has a different flavor and the Rangers have a unique style. Cooper and Lightning acknowledged that they can’t keep saying “Well, we just have to play our game” and went out of their way to play a more offensive version of their game, which has resulted in less time. disk for the game. The stars of the Rangers.
With Cooper and the Lightning, they seem to spend a couple of games in the process of feeling a series to see what their opponent is about and how the match will work, and then they make that first adjustment or two, usually somewhere. . Game 3 or 4. parties.
At this point, the opposition must react to whatever the adjustment, counter-adjustment, and begin to have the feeling that it is pursuing. This counter-adjustment may work for a game, but it is always Cooper who dictates the next chess move after paying what is “easy.” In this series, without domestic ice, getting to use Cirelli as a pure verifier in Games 3 and 4 has baffled the Rangers’ attack. We’ll see how Tampa chooses to adjust to the road in Game 5.
If you go back to the two Bolts Cup races and their 10 post-season wins this season, this trend of finding something with a mid-series fit is clear.
In 2019, Tampa won the Presidents Trophy with a billion points, took out the Blue Jackets wildcard, and when it started to go wrong, they didn’t do enough to adapt to find out, but they relied on the which they had done all year. . Inconceivably, they lost (and not just lost, they were swept away, which had to be humble). The following year they tied Columbus again in round 1, and make no mistake, those games were a goal-scoring win, forcing Lightning to play a different style than they prefer. They won because of the desire to adapt to the type of series they were in and find their way. Since then, the willingness to change and adapt has been shown in all the series around match 3 or 4, where they adjust first and score a lot, and win a disappearing match, almost always for at least three goals.
It may be a bit selective to choose a 3 game here or a 5 game there, but the point is this: for some reason, in the middle of a hotly contested series, there always seems to be a game where things go the way they go. Looks like they had to go, with Tampa Bay beating its opponent an average of 5.4 to 1.7, one of those “thank you for coming out, but we’re better.”
For the first time in this Eastern Conference final, this vibration could be felt.
The Rangers still have a lot for them here. They were in the series when that game happened to them, which means it’s only level now. They have the kind of goalkeeper who can steal a “deserved” victory or two, even if the Bolts find their way. They have an ice advantage at home, which should cancel Cirelli’s game if he reaches seven. It’s not impossible for them to take this series yet.
But in Game 4 he began to feel that the Lightning had found him again, as if his adjustments left the Rangers chasing him a bit, and that the responsibility lies with Gerrard Gallant and New York for counter-punching, adjusting. to the fit and to find their own way back.
If the plan is to leave it to professionals like Mika Zibanejad – because you remember that this is not so complicated, as the two technicians have told us – without making any changes, they will have a big problem. Simply. Cooper can put a lot of things aside in the media, and there is often a justification for doing so. But make no mistake, the Lightning has been adjusting, as it has become its MO over the years, and we saw these effects in Game 4.