Lightning wing Blake Coleman said he still gets called “Goodie” once a week in the dressing room.
It’s the nickname of Barclay Goodrow, the Lightning’s other main deadline acquisition last spring. Tampa Bay doesn’t win last year’s Stanley Cup, nor are the Lightning two wins away now, without them.
“We’ll always be tied in that way,” Coleman said.
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And after Wednesday night, the two will forever be linked to one of the most memorable goals in Lightning playoff history. No, it didn’t have the season-saving stakes of Martin St. Louis’ double-overtime goal in Game 6 of the 2004 Stanley Cup Final. It wasn’t as iconic, or symbolic, as captain Steven Stamkos’ goal in the Cup Final last year, which led his ice time (2:47) to get printed on T-shirts. There was Vinny Lecavalier’s between-the-legs goal against Montreal in the ’04 Cup run, Tyler Johnson had his buzzer-beating winner against the Canadiens in 2015.
But one day years from now, if Tampa Bay pulls off its historic Stanley Cup repeat, it wouldn’t be surprising to see a statue of a soaring Coleman converting another one of his famous diving goals to spark a 3-1 victory in Game 2.
“It’s one of those where the announcer says, ‘You’ll see that on ‘SportsCenter’ tonight,'” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said.
The Lightning were in a bad place. They had been outworked, out-chanced and outbattled by the Canadiens for most of the first 40 minutes. At one point midway through the second period, Montreal forward Nick Suzuki had as many shots (eight) as Tampa Bay’s team. Had it not been for a herculean effort by goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, who set a playoff career high with 42 saves, the Lightning might have been down a few goals instead of being tied 1-1 heading into the final seconds of the second period.
But that’s when Goodrow and Coleman went to work.
With about eight seconds left, Canadiens defenseman Shea Weber sent a breakout pass up the right boards to Phillip Danault, as they were trying to run out the clock. But the pass was behind the Selke Trophy candidate, and that allowed Coleman to pounce, hitting Danault near mid-ice and forcing the turnover.
The puck went to Ryan McDonagh just outside the Lightning blue line, and the veteran defenseman quickly flipped it to where Goodrow could track it down by Montreal’s blue line. With about four seconds left, Goodrow had the presence of mind — and skill — to poke the puck past Ben Chiarot and into the zone.
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That’s when Coleman darted in on the left side to join him.
“I knew the clock was winding down, but I saw Goodie make that heads-up play in the neutral zone, that little poke past their D,” Coleman said. “I just tried to do everything I could to give him an option.”
By the time Goodrow could corral the puck, there were 2.9 seconds left and he was still above the right circle. Weber was closing in.
“I knew that time was tight,” Goodrow said. “I could hear our bench yelling, ‘Shoot!'”
But Goodrow didn’t.
He saw Coleman streaking out of the corner of his eye, and as he reached the right faceoff dot, he flipped to his backhand to attempt a pass. Why didn’t Goodrow shoot?
“I’m not too sure,” Goodrow said. “I saw Blake drive the net. I figured if I could maybe get it over to him, it’d probably have a better chance of going in than shooting from where I was. Lucky we had enough time.”
Now, Coleman has a history of scoring diving goals, dating to his career at Miami University. Then there was one with the Devils, and another for the Lightning in the second round last year against the Bruins. That goal against Boston is what immediately came to Cooper’s mind when he saw the play unfold from the bench.
“Literally in my head, I’m like, ‘Did he just do that again?'” Cooper said. “Little bit different scenarios. But it was remarkably similar.”
So… @BColes25 has done this not once, but THREE TIMES?! #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/hIvBP9Kd54
— NHL GIFs (@NHLGIFs) July 1, 2021
This time, Coleman was a step ahead of Danault. When did he decide to dive?
“Just kind of reflex, really,” Coleman said. “I knew they had a backchecker there and I just tried to beat him to the puck. I don’t think anybody is planning to dive onto the ice, but that was all I had, and Goodie put it in a good spot. I don’t know why these goals happen, but it was a big win for our team.”
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Danault dove, too. But Coleman got enough lumber on it to sneak it through Canadiens goaltender Carey Price with 1.1 seconds left. “It takes tremendous effort,” Goodrow said. “To dive like that for the puck and still get wood on the shot, enough to get it at the net and raise over the pad. A pretty special play.” As Coleman slid into the boards, the 17,166 fans in Amalie Arena — which had been quiet for most of the period — erupted. They jumped to their feet and roared.
The same could be said for the Lightning bench, which got a much-needed boost heading into intermission.
“We got outworked that period, they out-chanced us, outbattled us,” McDonagh said. “No doubt that was a remarkable play by those two in the last second of a period like that. A huge, huge swing for sure.”
“The timing was epic,” Cooper said. “Definitely a big lift going into the second.”
That goal was all the Lightning needed as Vasilevskiy shut the door. One day after surprisingly not winning the Vezina Trophy, Vasilevskiy let his play do the talking with one of his better playoff performances. His save on a Nick Suzuki early in the game allowed Tampa Bay to settle in, and his array of stops in the second kept it a tied game. “Man, he’s an absolute warrior,” McDonagh said. “Probably the biggest piece of our win.”
But when Lightning fans talk about this game years later, they’ll likely always remember the goal where Coleman left his feet — and put everyone else on theirs. Of his diving goals, this one might be on top.
“It happens in the Stanley Cup Final, it’s pretty memorable for you,” Coleman said. “This one is definitely up there. With the circumstances in the game, this one will stick in my mind.”
It’s been a storybook year for Coleman, who has seen his wife, Jordan, give birth to two beautiful, healthy daughters, Charlie and Carson, who arrived a few weeks ago. And now, along with Goodrow, he could win his second straight Stanley Cup.
When Julien BriseBois called @BColes25 after the Feb 2020 deadline trade, Coleman was having a Labatt tallboy with dad in his West NY condo. "I'm super f—– excited!" BriseBois told him. We see why. Behind Coleman's storybook year. Two babies, two Cups? https://t.co/shi6Gk7AYI
— Joe Smith (@JoeSmithTB) July 1, 2021
You can credit Coleman’s resilience for that. It was his turnover in overtime that led to the Lightning’s Game 6 loss on Long Island to the Islanders. But Cooper approached Coleman after the game and told him: “Don’t you dare lose one night of sleep over your turnover. You are one of the straws that stir the drink for this team.”
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“And all he’s done is had a remarkable Game 7 and two remarkable games here in the final,” Cooper said.
And, to think, many people wondered if the Lightning gave up too much at last year’s deadline, dealing a couple of first-round picks and top forward prospect Nolan Foote in separate trades for Goodrow and Coleman.
“They are pieces of the puzzle, but they were the final piece,” Cooper said. “We kind of tried this recipe a little different. Unlike other teams who are going for top-six forwards or top-four D, we’ve kind of gone the other way, looked for middle-six forwards or the third set of D. I think if you’re looking for winners, those guys are winners. They’ve proved it time and time again.
“At this time of year, when every shift is under a microscope, players that aren’t used to really playing with grit are playing with grit. Games are elevated, and the microscope is on you. There are guys who rise to the occasion and sometimes there are guys that don’t. These guys, the moment doesn’t seem to be too big for them.”
(Photo: Douglas DeFelice / USA Today)
