Lightning have stopped trying to be bullies – and may finally have the advantage

One of the more experienced teams in these Stanley Cup Playoffs has changed its approach, and it seems to be paying off.

The Tampa Bay Lightning are in an exciting Atlantic Division Semifinal with the Montreal Canadiens. Thanks to Brandon Hagel’s heroics on Sunday night, the series is tied 2-2 heading back to the Sunshine State.

It’s a different feel for this Bolts team, which looked like it was trying to beat the Canadiens into submission during the series’ first stint in Tampa. However, using simple playoff grit over outright bullying and utilizing its experience and skill helped them get at least one win in Montreal.

On Monday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Tyler Yaremchuk and Carter Hutton discussed how the Lightning’s change in style of play has helped them so far in this series.

Tyler Yaremchuk: I’ll give Montreal full marks for the way they fought in this series. I will also say Tampa Bay, kind of going and getting their heads screwed on straight after, I think, running around a little bit too much early in the series. That starts to have me thinking, again, the momentum might be favoring Tampa a bit.

Carter Hutton: I think so, too. I think that’s a big factor here. … a thing that really stood out for me is every time they would show Marty St. Louis on the bench, he just looked upset. It didn’t feel like that typical guy reassuring the squad.

It’s just like little, I think, mental errors I would say [for the Habs]. I don’t know if it’s the magnitude of the game, but for a younger Montreal team, they need to be harder to play against with a 2-0 lead. It felt like the 2-0 lead, and then I don’t know how much you watch the game, but you could feel it coming. You knew it was coming, and they just couldn’t fight it off.

You can watch the full segment and entire episode here…