TAMPA, Fla. — Blake Coleman’s stick is 62 inches long, and he needed every last inch to make what might have been the biggest play of the Lightning’s Stanley Cup run.
In order to win the greatest trophy in sports, it sometimes takes jaw-dropping moments, and Coleman provided a great one in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup final Wednesday night at Amalie Arena.
The Lightning’s second period against the Canadiens was far from their best of the postseason. In fact, it might have been one of their worst. But it ended with one of Tampa Bay’s best efforts of the postseason.
Tampa Bay closed out the period with a rare rush — they had just 13 shots over the first two periods — with Barclay Goodrow skating into the offensive zone as the final seconds ticked down.
He fed Coleman, who was blanketed by Canadiens center Phillip Danault, leading him just a bit too much as Coleman closed in on the left post.
Coleman then went full extension, diving forward — his reach his a little farther than Danault’s — flicking the puck off his blade and past Canadiens goaltender Carey Price with two seconds remaining in the period.
Coleman’s highlight-reel goal — his first in 19 games — was the difference in the Lightning’s 3-1 Game 2 win, placing Tampa Bay two wins from claiming back-to-back Stanley Cups.
The score, which electrified the Lightning’s first full-capacity home crowd in more than two years, tilted the ice for Tampa Bay.
In some ways, the Canadiens had the Lightning right where they wanted them entering Game 2.
The Lightning won Game 1 by a 5-1 score, just how the Canadiens like it. Whether it was their comeback from 3-1 down in the series to beat Toronto in the first round or dropping their semifinal opener to Vegas before eliminating them in six games, Montreal has thrived when behind in the playoffs.
And Montreal was much better in Game 2. They took away the Lightning’s crosscheck game, loading their own zone to help their defensemen inside the blue line. Tampa Bay had its opportunities, but didn’t get many.
Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy kept Tampa Bay in the game, making 27 saves in the first two periods, his only blemish a Nick Suzuki score with 9:24 left in the second off a wobbly puck that seemed to fool Vasilevskiy by its lack of thrust.
Following a scoreless first period, Anthony Cirelli gave the Lightning the lead with a seeing-eye wrister just inside blue line above the right circle that went through two Canadiens players and two Lightning players before beating Price stickside.
With 4:18 left in the third, Ondrej Palat took advantage of a sloppy Montreal play in the Canadiens’ own zone, picking off a bad pass and flicking the puck off Price and into the net to put the Lightning up 3-1.
