from Bruce Arthur of the Toronto Star,

There was a spotlight on defenceman Victor Hedman, who delivered spectacular assists on two of Tampa’s three Game 3 goals and was justly lauded — he’s been a primal force in these playoffs, full of confidence, a player with Chris Pronger’s size and a smaller man’s skills. Hedman’s great.

“I don’t know if he’s as smooth as Scott Niedermayer was, but he can move like him,” said Lightning veteran Brenden Morrow. “He’s about four or five inches taller. He’s a monster.”

There was more on Ben Bishop’s ability to play through his mystery injury, which has rendered him into more of a listing stone giant than usual, and Tampa’s ability as a young team to go 8-3 in the formidable rinks of Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, the Bell Centre in Montreal, and the United Center in Chicago.

“It could be a combination of a lot of things,” said Morrow. “But maybe when we get on the road there maybe isn’t as much focus — because we can’t have it — on matchups, we just go out and play. We’re a team that when we have no hesitation to our game, we’re very successful. So that could be part of it. You turn off the thinker a little bit.”

And there were, of course, the struggles of the Blackhawks, who can’t be sure that they’ll have defenceman Johnny Oduya for Game 4, and the article of faith that this is a team that can elevate its game when the games matter more. They are, after all, 30-30 in Games 1-3 under head coach Joel Quenneville, and 40-14 in Games 4-7.

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