TAMPA, Fla. – The decisions a hockey coach makes that have a direct effect on the outcome of his team’s game are tougher to nail down than those of a football coach or baseball manager.
In the fastest, flukiest sport, there is no time to consider a sacrifice bunt, no option to go for seven points or settle for three.
Beyond line matchups, too-many-men-on-the-ice penalties and goalie pulls, a coach’s fingerprints on a single game are subtle and difficult to detect.
So it is especially interesting that Jon Cooper purposely did not tell rookie pivot Cedric Paquette prior to Game 1’s puck drop that he was tasking him with shutting down Jonathan Toews, arguably the greatest active big-game player.
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"He’s a young kid," Cooper revealed Thursday of his strategy. "I don’t want him thinking, ‘Oh, my gosh, I’m going to have to check Captain Everything.’"
The tough-task trio of Paquette, Ryan Callahan and J.T. Brown prevented Chicago’s dynamic tandem of Toews and Kane from registering a point Wednesday—a mini victory Paquette admitted Friday might not have been possible had Cooper told him his job in advance.
Cooper was right. The idea of shadowing Toews would have messed up his head, Paquette explained.
"I haven’t played my best in the playoffs yet. Knowing that I was playing against two guys like that would’ve stressed me," said the Gaspe, Que., native. "Now that I know I can play against him, I can play against anybody. I’m going to be more confident."
Paquette has just one goal in 19 playoffs compared to 12 in 64 regular-season games, and a lack of secondary scoring could eventually be Tampa’s undoing. Yet Cooper believes keeping Kane and Toews off the sheet is just as valuable as a goal from his bottom six.
Considering the kid has recently blocked hard shots with his right palm (Derick Brassard, Game 5 vs. New York) and his left palm (Brent Seabrook, Game 1 of Final) and has been icing both mitts at once, those hands might not be soft enough to contribute offensively anyway.
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Paquette is re-embracing the role of agitator. He said he regularly got under the skin of junior opponents when he played for Blainville-Boisbriand Armada; he racked up 103 penalty minutes in his last season in the QMJHL.
"We don’t have our [Andrew] Shaw or [Brendan] Gallagher. I’m trying to do as much as I can, but in the next couple years I’ll be better at it," Paquette said. "I’m a little bit shy. I’m just 21 years old, and I’m still learning it. Next year or in two years, I think I will do a much better job, like Kesler did."
Prior to the Final, Paquette poured over tape from every game of the Anaheim-Chicago series, going to school on Ryan Kesler’s treatment of Toews, who did not score until Game 4 of the Western final.
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"I tried to take notes, and I think that helped me last game. You try to piss him off as much as you can. It worked a little bit, but Toews is a professional," Paquette said, who employed some slashing and trash-talk. "I tried to chirp him a little bit, but he didn’t bite, so I stopped and just played my game."
Between games 1 and 2, Paquette discovered Toews speaks French. (Because of course he does.) Saturday the agitator-in-training plans to chirp him in two languages.
"I’m confident we can play the best game of the year tomorrow," he said.
