TAMPA -- There is artistry in the way that Tampa Bay Lightning center Anthony Cirelli can shut down a scorer, in the way he -- and his linemates -- can wrap up an opponent, frustrate him, turn a potent attack impotent.
Cirelli defense key for Lightning in Stanley Cup Final
Shutdown line with Hagel, Killorn faces challenge in Avalanche
It's what they have done throughout these Stanley Cup Playoffs, through the season, as they have vanquished the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Florida Panthers and now, the New York Rangers.
"He's Nikita] Kucherov without the puck," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said.
But Cirelli's job and the job of his line only gets harder now in the Stanley Cup Final after the Lightning finished off the Rangers 2-1 in Game 6 of the best-of-7 Eastern Conference Final on Saturday at Amalie Arena.
The team and the line will now be tasked with taking on the offensively formidable Colorado Avalanche and its top line of Gabriel Landeskog, Nathan MacKinnon and Valeri Nichushkin.
The Lightning relied heavily on that checking line made up of Cirelli, along with Brandon Hagel and Alex Killorn to shut down the Rangers' biggest threats, to neutralize Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider, in particular. They didn't allow the Rangers to generate much, particularly at 5-on-5, with Zibanejad having no points in the last three games of the series, Kreider having none in the last two.
"It's really a point of emphasis with our team," Killorn said. "I think we have enough skill and talent to score offensively, but we focus on our defensive game. If we don't let them score, if we win 2-1, we're happy with that. We don't [have] to win by six goals or whatever it may be. We want to defend first."
Colorado, though, will have some say in that.
The Avalanche have the highest-scoring offense in the playoffs at 4.64 goals per game in the 14 games they've played in the postseason after scoring 3.76 in the regular season, good for fourth in the NHL.
They have speed and skill and talent and touch.
But it's something that the Lightning believe they can counter, led by Cirelli.
"He just anticipates. His stick position, his body position. He knows if he's getting the puck, he's not letting the man by him. But usually he comes out with both," Cooper said. "And then he's like a fierce hound. He's just on it.
"And when you have that no quit in you and that relentless attitude, that helps too, especially in all those situations when you're playing without the puck."
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The center is in his fifth season in the NHL, at 24, and continues to earn more and more respect for his defensive prowess. He finished fifth in the voting for the Frank J. Selke Trophy, given to the forward who best excels in the defensive aspects of the game, behind the Boston Bruins' Patrice Bergeron, the Calgary Flames' Elias Lindholm, the Panthers' Aleksander Barkov and the St. Louis Blues' Ryan O'Reilly, all luminaries in the art.
While lamenting that the Selke is a bit more point-driven than he'd prefer, Cooper acknowledged that the recognition for Cirelli is impressive, considering he doesn't score as much as some of the others up for the award. He finished the season with 43 points (17 goals, 26 assists) in 76 games and has five points (one goal, four assists) in 17 games in the postseason. Bergeron, the winner, had 65 points (25 goals, 40 assists).
"In the Selke voting this year, it probably played out the way it should have," Cooper said. "And you can take it the other way and say, Tony got recognized to be a top-five player without the points, which I think says a ton for what he's done for us.
"He's going to be the next guy knocking at the door. But [he's] another one, a selfless player that understands playing defense is something that's important to us, the team, himself, and he's great at it."
He's not the only one. Cirelli has teamed with Hagel and Killorn, finding a rhythm that has shut down opponents, allowing the more offensive-minded players on the Lightning to thrive.
"With 'Hags,' he's been a great addition," Killorn said. "He's a great forechecker. And for his size, he's really strong on the puck. He makes a lot of great plays. We've found some chemistry. We haven't chipped in as much offensively as we would have liked, but not for lack of trying.
"With the coach having a lot of confidence in us to put us out against those lines, whether it's Barkov, [Jonathan] Huberdeau, [Auston] Matthews, [Mitchell], Marner and then Zibanejad, it's been great. We just want to continue to do that, and we know we're going to have a huge job, definitely the biggest job we've had in the playoffs, when we play Colorado."
