If Tyler Johnson is as hobbled by injury as some—such as Bleacher Report's Jonathan Willis—think, and Ben Bishop is too hobbled to suit up in goal for the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final, then the pressure on Steven Stamkos just became a hundred times greater.
Which is what Stamkos should welcome if he is to accomplish his most fervent of hockey dreams.
If the great ones always wanted the ball in their hands or the puck on their stick in the most important times, then the 25-year-old Lightning captain should want the puck on every shift he takes in what will be the biggest game of his career on Saturday at Amalie Arena.
Even if Johnson and Bishop were 100 percent physically, the player with the most to prove in Game 5 would be Stamkos, whose inconsistent play has been the one nagging aspect of Tampa Bay's otherwise tremendous playoff run.
Here's the question, though: Does his coach, Jon Cooper, truly believe in Stamkos? If he does, Cooper needs to prove it by giving his captain more ice time in these last few games of the Final.
Here's w ...
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Article written by Adrian Dater
Lightning Star Steven Stamkos Deserves a Little More Faith from Coach Jon Cooper
June 11th, 2015 by Adrian Dater Leave a reply »
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