Game 4 Lessons: Can you spell Vasilevskiy?

CHICAGO – Ben Bishop will be back at some point in this series, his coach says. We just don’t know when.

Until then, get familiar with the spellcheck-busting Andrei Vasilevskiy, who started trending on Twitter when he led the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning onto the United Center ice. Defenceman Anton Stralman said he didn’t find out whose crease he’d be guarding until he arrived for the game. Opposing coach Joel Quenneville didn’t know until you did at home. And Vasilevskiy himself didn’t know until after the morning skate.

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“Just you in, and that’s it,” said the 20-year-old Russian. The kid has a better grasp of the moment than the English language.

Teammate Brian Boyle said he was “in college at 20 worrying about other things,” not giving a team a real chance to win the Stanley Cup.

“We just scored one,” coach Jon Cooper reminded after the 2-1 defeat. “He showed the pinnacle of the sport that he can play.”

A converted power-play here, a Steven Stamkos pulled-goalie finish there, and we could be Tampa-bound for an elimination game.

1. Jonathan Toews is back. (But if you’ve been watching, he never left.)
Toews (one assist) and Patrick Kane (O-fer) haven’t looked awful in this series and created gobs of chances in Game 3, but their production had been nonexistent until Wednesday. Credit Victor Hedman, Anton Stralman and, to a slightly lesser extent, Tampa’s diligent checking forwards.

After Monday’s Game 3 loss, we exited United Center at the same time as Captain Everything. He was with a cluster of friends, laughing and at ease. If a trace of panic existed at all in the man, it was buried leagues beneath those buck eyes. On Tuesday, he said Chicago could win the Cup even if he and Kane never score a goal.

Nothing phases Toewser.

Partnered with Marian Hossa and Patrick Sharp, one of Coach Quenneville’s freestyled trios, Toews opened the scoring with his first of the series and first career Cup Final goal at home (eight attempts).

More impressive were his defensive work–he hijacked a chance from Stamkos in the first frame with a stick-check–and his crease-crashing effort. Kane set up Brandon Saad’s game-winner to get on the board, too.

2. Hmm… Maybe Bishop was playing hurt, after all.

Credit to Cooper for maintaining secrecy. Though Bishop won Game 3 and participated in Wednesday’s morning skate, the Vasilevskiy tap was a surprise. Bishop will have had four full days off between starts if he slides back in for Game 5, but don’t expect to find out until Saturday night.

“Do we think the series is lost because Vasilevskiy is going in?” Cooper said Sunday. “Not a chance.”

Both teams clamped down defensively early, and the Lighting surrendered only two shots in the first period. Vasilevskiy didn’t face his first shot — a clean-look Patrick Sharp slapper — until 8:17 into the game. Stralman wondered if the lack of rubber was a bad thing.

The Russian, who won Game 2 in bizarre double-relief, became the youngest goalie to start a game in the Final since Patrick Roy in 1986 and the fourth-youngest ever.

“It’s my dream to play in the Stanley Cup Final. I think I look not bad in my first game in two months,” Vasilevskiy said. “I can play better, for sure, but for the first time, not bad.”

3. Kimmo Timonen was a crossbar away from his moment.

In one of those storybook hockey anecdotes, Chicago’s late-addition defenceman made his 2015 Stanley Cup Final debut with the club that squashed his only other shot at a championship.

Timonen’s Philadelphia Flyers were defeated by the Blackhawks in the 2010 final. Now that the 40-year-old has played at least once in the series, his name will forever be engraved in silver if Chicago wins this thing.

“This is my moment,” Timonen said before lacing up his skates and hitting a crossbar in the third period of a 1-1 game.

4. Vince Vaughn, diehard Blackhawks fan, treated the enemy to dinner.
First it was Charles Barkley. Last night is was Vince Vaughn who crashed the Lightning coaching staff’s traditional on-the-road dinner. Both big-name stars (both guys who’ve worn Blackhawks sweaters) picked up the cheque for Cooper & Co.

Cooper downplayed the star-crossings. “Other people in the restaurant that we see, those are just random meetings,” he said.

According to CSN Chicago, Cooper tried to pay for Vaughn’s bill, but the True Detective star wasn’t having it.

“This is Chicago, my town,” Vaughn told a managing partner of the steakhouse. “This is how we treat people. I got his cheque.”

Vaughn, all sweatered up, was rinkside for Game 4 after interviewing Toews.

5. Man, this baby is close.

Though we have yet to see an overtime in this series, these teams have either been tied or separated by just a single goal at all moments of the Cup Final.

“It’s more nerve-wracking sitting on the bench than actually being out on the ice,” Stamkos said of the back-and-forth flow of play. “The anxiety is the highest, but that’s what makes it so much more rewarding when you can win.”

6. Does Jonathan Drouin return?

After a light night offensively for Tampa — a rarity — perhaps Cooper brings back the creative rookie for Game 5?

7. Cedric Paquette can change his shirt now.

The Lightning pest went shopping on his day off Tuesday and purchased a new dress shirt. He wouldn’t dare wear it to the game, however. Due to superstition, he pulled on the same button up as Game 3, in which he scored the winner.

8. Johnny Oduya played, thank goodness.

After sitting out the morning skate with an upper-body injury, the top-four defenceman played a critical 25:45 and was a plus-1. Would Chicago have won without him? Doubt it. Timonen and Trevor van Riemsdyk had moments when they looked swamped.

“I don’t know if he’s hurt or not,” Duncan Keith said. “He’s a warrior out there and leads the way on the back end. He sacrifices his body and plays a hard game. It was huge for us today.”

9. The first goal matters.
And it finally went to Chicago. The first line of Toews-Sharp-Hossa brought out the best in the struggling Patrick Sharp. Rumoured trade bait, Sharp easily played his best game of the series, and it was his push to the net that led to Toews marker.

Tampa had scored first in all three previous games this series.

10. Valtteri Filppula’s reverse pass was magical.

Alex Killorn, that twirler of mustaches and scorer of post-season goals, was awarded the games third star. But his goal is all due to Filppula’s back pass as he circled the net. Corey Crawford was focused in the complete wrong direction. Watch this thing of beauty:

11. Chicago sporting luminaries were out in full force.

Not only were the stars of the screen in attendance, new Chicago Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg was at the Madhouse, representing in a Blackhawks hoodie.

Also in attendance: Chicago Bears running back Matt Forte.

12. Even the graffiti in Chicago represents for the Blackhawks (and Bulls and Cubs):