Sports | Lightning

A short-handed recipe for NHL success

At a 95.2 percent stop rate, the Lightning seems to have the ingredients of a near-perfect penalty kill.

By TOM JONES
Published November 1, 2005

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TAMPA - Simple math tells you it's a hairy situation.

The other team has five skaters on the ice. Your team has four. Your fifth man is sitting in the penalty box. And you have two minutes to sweat it out and keep the other team from scoring.

What's the key to good penalty killing?

"Hard work," Lightning defenseman Nolan Pratt said.

"Good goaltending," forward Rob DiMaio said.

"Blocking shots," forward Tim Taylor said.

"A combination of things," coach John Tortorella said.

Whatever it is, the Lightning is doing it right. The Lightning's 7-3-2 record might be inside-out if it were not for the penalty killing. In 62 short-handed situations, the Lightning has allowed only three goals. The 95.2 percent success rate at killing penalties is absurdly good and the best in the NHL.

While everyone agrees "hard work" - outhustling the opponent to make up for the lost man - is the backbone of any good penalty kill, it takes as much brains as brawn.

"Intelligence is a big part of it," DiMaio said. "You have to know who you are playing against, what their tendencies are and when to attack."

Or as Tortorella said, "You show tape, but give the players credit. They have to make split-second decisions."

Penalty killing can be broken into two segments: when the puck is in the other team's end and when it's in your end. When DiMaio killed penalties in Dallas, the Stars would let the other team bring the puck up the ice then throw up a road block at the blue line.

The Lightning, however, sets the dial to attack at all times.

"We want to disrupt any flow they have," DiMaio said.

"You can't let them enter the zone with speed," Taylor said.

But, inevitably, the other team will gain possession in the Lightning's zone and that's when hard work turns to smart work.

"The key is knowing when you have an opportunity to jump on the guy and pressure him," Pratt said.

There is an element of surprise involved. For example, in a recent game, the Lightning's Dave Andreychuk attacked an opponent behind the Lightning goal.

"He's not supposed to be back there," Taylor said. "I even thought, "What's he doing?"'

If Taylor was surprised, imagine the opponent. Andreychuk gained control of the puck and easily cleared it.

The four penalty-killers work in unison, reading each other, clogging up passing and shooting lanes. They key on the game-breakers. They know Pittsburgh's power play runs through Mario Lemieux and Atlanta's power play is started by Ilya Kovulchuk. Find the leader, stop him and your chances of killing the penalty have improved.

Reviewing game film helps. Nothing beats experience. And the Lightning has an edge because most of its penalty-killers have played together for several seasons. They know their teammates' tendencies as well as their opponents'. Everyone knows when to zig and when to zag.

Often, Lightning penalty-killers will discuss tactics with the power-play specialists. Pratt, for example, might ask Brad Richards how to make life rotten for a power play.

"I'll really watch what the other teams do," DiMaio said, "I'll see what works and why and then think as a penalty-killer, "How can I defend something like that?"'

Taylor said, "If they do set up, you want them to have to make four or five real good passes to beat us."

Eventually, that will happen. Then the kill turns from smarts to guts. At some point, a penalty-killer will have to throw his body in front of a 95 mph slap shot.

"It's willingness at that point," Tortorella said. "And our guys do a great job at blocking shots."

Finally, the last line of defense is the goalie. The cliche in hockey is, "Your goalie is your best penalty-killer."

"The other team is going to get shots," DiMaio said. "Your goalie has to come up big."

So far, everyone has come up big for the Lightning's penalty-killing unit.

"They're doing a great job," Tortorella said. "They have to make a lot of decisions and right now they're making more right decisions than wrong ones."

BURKE UPDATE: Goalie Sean Burke's groin injury does not appear serious. He missed Saturday's game after straining his groin stepping on a puck during a morning practice. Head trainer Tommy Mulligan said Burke is day to day, but likely will be held off the ice for "another couple of days" to make sure he doesn't reaggravate the injury or make it worse. He won't dress tonight, but could be ready when the team starts a three-game road trip Thursday in Ottawa.

[Last modified November 1, 2005, 02:15:27]

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