TAMPA, Fla. — There are lies, damned lies and playoff lies.
To be covering a sport at the most important time of year — in this case, mere days from the presentation of the Stanley Cup — is to suspend a certain amount of belief when interacting with any of the key figures in the series.
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Our basketball brethren experienced it in the NBA Finals when Golden State coach Steve Kerr said that there would be no change to his starting lineup before Thursday’s game, only to send out Andre Iguodala instead of Andrew Bogut.
Guess what? It worked. They won.
“I lied,” said Kerr, by way of explanation. “Sorry, but I don’t think they hand you the trophy based on morality.”
The practice certainly isn’t restricted to the hardcourt. There has been some subterfuge hovering over this Stanley Cup final, with the Lightning’s goalie situation shrouded in mystery and the Blackhawks going to great lengths to disguise a wholesale lineup shuffle before Game 4.
Fair enough. It has always been thus.
Marc Crawford, who coached the Colorado Avalanche to a Stanley Cup win in 1996, believes it is an unavoidable part of the job. Truth becomes a moving target when a title is one the line.
“We certainly lie about injuries, we lie to protect players, we lie to protect line combinations because you’re going to get maybe a momentary advantage on it,” Crawford told Sportsnet.
In some cases, the situation demands it.
Crawford remembers facing Scotty Bowman’s Detroit Red Wings on the way to the Cup and repeatedly disguising his lineup decisions. What he didn’t want his counterpart to know is that he was dressing seven defencemen in an effort to get stars Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg on the ice more.
“We did it a number of times against the Red Wings,” said Crawford. “That’s really who you had to watch because Scotty was the master at (line) matching. … I think if Scotty would have known that was the plan going in — that we were going to double shift Joe or Peter — well, he would have countered that pretty quickly.”
It isn’t too much unlike what Joel Quenneville did by moving around his Blackhawks for Wednesday’s series-tying win. Tampa’s Jon Cooper had a surprise up his own sleeve that night, starting rookie Andrei Vasilevskiy in goal rather than injured starter Ben Bishop.
We haven’t seen Bishop since.
Despite that rather large turn of events, there hasn’t been much in the way of an explanation about his status. Had he not laboured to move so much during Game 3 we wouldn’t even be completely certain if it was an injury or illness.
Cooper is an engaging coach and a fantastic interview, but this isn’t the time for clarity. All he will reveal is that Bishop could be available to the Lightning for Game 5.
“Are you asking if I’ve lied? Is my nose growing?” said Cooper. “OK, I’ll be truthful in this scenario. I don’t know sitting here today if Ben Bishop is playing on Saturday.
“I hope he plays. I don’t know if he’s going to.”
The fibs aren’t limited to coaches — Lightning centre Tyler Johnson, who has mysteriously stopped taking faceoffs since suffering a suspected hand or wrist injury, told reporters “I’m fine” on Friday — but they are the main source of information about the team.
During the playoffs they speak to reporters every day, sometimes twice a day, and the thirst for information only increases the longer the playoff run goes.
Barry Melrose, the coach-turned-ESPN-broadcaster, chuckled Friday when asked if he ever lied to reporters in his coaching days.
“That’s not the question,” said Melrose. “The question is when I spoke to the press, when did I tell the truth?”
Even with tongue firmly planted in cheek, the message was clear.
Crawford had Quenneville on his Avalanche coaching staff and has paid attention to the discussion around this series. Naturally, there are things going on behind the scenes that we don’t know about.
“You watch Joel — I know Joel really well — and obviously he’s very, very guarded with what he says,” said Crawford. “I think the other guy, Jon, is much more forthcoming. Maybe because he’s a lawyer he’s got a lot more practice at lying.”
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While there was moral outrage in some corners following Kerr’s admission to lying, it seems a little misplaced. This is what we’ve all signed up for.
All a coach needs to be concerned about right now is finding a way to get a couple wins. There will be plenty of time later to set the record straight.
“I don’t want to make too much of it,” said Crawford. “I don’t think there’s that many secrets. And I never minded telling people what happened after the fact.”
By then you hope that the end will justify the means.
