Ryan Malone plays an important role, keeping Zdeno Chara at bay, in Tampa Bay Lightning’s win (Part 1)
Tampa Bay Lightning has generally done pretty well in the series against Boston Bruins so far. However, there have been instances in the series where Zdeno Chara had considerable space and time which saw him coming up with regular attacks.
Nonetheless, in Game 4 of the series, things seemed to have changed as Ryan Malone while attempting to attack, man-marked Chara as well.
Thus, Chara’s performance wasn’t as it was during the first three games of the series. The physical aspect that Malone brought into the game helped him immensely in keeping the opposing team’s captain, Chara, at bay in the last two periods of Game 4.
"It takes a lot of energy to take on a big guy like that and put that guy down", teammate, Simon Gagne, said. "Maybe it starts with that. That's what we need. We need to be physical but at the same time we need to make sure we get that puck after. He was one of the best players for us".
He collided with Chara frequently during the game, at one instance knocking him down while he was in possession. The collision resulted in Chara losing the puck at a crucial point and prevented Bruins from scoring a goal.
Bruins was leading 3-0 at this point and after Lightning got possession of the puck, Purcell initiated Lightning’s comeback with a goal from a brilliant assist by Gagne.
"He's a big, big man. I think I'm feeling a little bit of that today", Malone said. "He's a force out there so any chance you have to put the body to him -- even if you don't knock him over and you might take the brunt of it, you try to tire him down. He's a big bear”.
Then forth, both players were fired up and got involved in another incident later on in the game. Bruins’ goalkeeper, Tim Thomas, was brushed aside by Chara but Malone quickly charged on to intervene and pushed Chara aside due to which some unpleasant words were exchanged between the two players.
Lightning got better as the game progressed while Bruins couldn’t control their temper. The aggression worked against them as they started losing possession at crucial stages, facing numerous turn-overs.
The home crowd backed up Bruins’ setbacks, screaming when they Lightning was in possession and there was a roar of disapproval when the puck was with Bruins at the St. Pete Times Arena.
(Continued in part 2). . . . . . . . . .
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