Sergachev stepping up for Lightning at perfect time in Cup Final

DENVER -- Mikhail Sergachev was not intimidated.

Not by the elite speed of Nathan MacKinnon. Not by the capacity crowd at Ball Arena, which was at its leather-lunged best. And not by the fact that his Tampa Bay Lightning, trailing 3-1 in the best-of-7 Stanley Cup Final, would have been eliminated with a Game 5 loss against the Colorado Avalanche on Friday.
Instead, the Lightning defenseman was the one doing the intimidating. And it proved to be a key point in Tampa Bay's 3-2 victory, a moment that boosted the confidence of his teammates heading into Game 6 at Amalie Arena in Tampa on Sunday (8 p.m. ET; ABC, ESPN+, CBC, SN, TVAS).
"A huge turning point, for sure," Lightning defenseman Ryan McDonagh said Saturday.
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Tampa Bay was leading 1-0 with 3:24 remaining in the first period when MacKinnon, Colorado's fastest forward, jumped into a seam between Sergachev and fellow defenseman Victor Hedman and appeared to have a step on them as he looked to tie the game.
Until Sergachev knocked him onto his backside, that is.
The hit created a buzz not only throughout the stands, but with Sergachev's teammates too. A clear message had been sent on the play: The Stanley Cup was in the building, but the Lightning were going to do everything in their power to keep the Avalanche from hoisting it.
It's a blueprint Tampa Bay plans to keep following.
"When I sit on the bench and somebody makes a hit like that, it gets me going," Sergachev said. "So that's all I can say. I hope it got our team going."
McDonagh said it did exactly that.
"I think just a crucial play more so than what it meant as far as the atmosphere," he said. "You're talking about one of their top players coming down on a breakaway and 'Sergie' shows his skating ability and his ability to close and take away a scoring chance."
The play infused confidence in the Lightning, a key for a team that must win the next two games to win a third consecutive Stanley Cup championship. If Sergachev and the remainder of the Tampa Bay defense continue to contribute on the scoreboard and beyond, they'll have a legitimate chance to do just that.
Hedman, who was a finalist for the Norris Trophy as the NHL's top defenseman this season, gets most of the attention and headlines, and rightly so. The 31-year-old won the Norris in 2017-18 and has been a finalist for six straight seasons. He won the Conn Smythe Trophy in 2020 as the most valuable player in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
At the same time, coach Jon Cooper said Sergachev's achievements, which often go under the radar, are embraced by his teammates and the coaching staff.
"What is he, 23 years old, and he's got two Stanley Cups," Cooper said. "And the amount of playoff games he's played at such a young age and to perform the very way he has, he's just wise beyond his years."
Sergachev actually turned 24 on Saturday, but Cooper's point is well taken. He's already played 91 postseason games and has 30 points (eight goals, 22 assists) in that span, including two assists in Game 5.
None was more important than the assist he had on Ondrej Palat's game-winner with 6:22 remaining in the third period. Sergachev had a couple of opportunities to shoot from the point but opted to play give-and-go with Hedman a couple of times before the latter fed Palat for the deciding goal.
"I could've shot it right away, but I thought it was a long way for a puck to go and I saw Vic on my left, so when you see your best defenseman on the ice on the left, wide open, you just give it to him," Sergachev said. "And then he gave it back to me. Their guy did a really good job jumping in front of me and I just didn't want to shoot in his shin pads. So I gave it back to Vic and Vic made an unbelievable play to 'Pally,' who was wide open.
"So it's about patience. But at the same time, you don't want to waste an opportunity by shooting it in his shin pads."
The decision proved to be a shrewd one by the birthday boy. He'll have to make a few more of them, whether it be with his hips or his sticks, if the Lightning's quest for a three-peat is to remain alive.