First of all, there is no way this fight happened twenty years ago. At best it’s five or six years ago. Admitting that it happened two decades ago would be admitting that I am, indeed, an old man. That just can’t be the case. Anyway, today’s off-season discussion was sparked by The Athletic’s oral history of the fight that happened between Jarome Iginla and Vincent Lecavalier in Game 3 of the 2004 NHL Stanley Cup Final.
Nothing put a cap on the pre-salary cap NHL like two superstars firing haymakers at each other in the middle of a pivotal game in the final. As the article pointed out, the Flames had made it to the final round of the playoffs that year by being the biggest and baddest team in the league. Iginla was their leader and the prototypical power forward who could beat you with his fists and his offensive skills. In the other corner, Lecavalier was blossoming into the star the Lightning had hoped he would be when they drafted him number one overall in 1998.
For those who have been around these parts for awhile, you may know that I’m a Vinny guy. My fandom with the Lightning started just prior to his joining the team, and I was there for all of the bumps, bruises, possible trades, and near fist-a-cuffs with his head coach. Watching him become the first bonafide star to wear the Lightning uniform was a joy to watch.
One thing I remember from that series up to the point of the fight was how it seemed that Vinny and his teammates were a little frustrated in the series despite it being 1-1. It had been an up and down playoff run for him as he was held off the scoreboard in the Lightning’s opening round win against the Islanders, but he bounced back with four goals and an assist in the sweep against Montreal. In the physical, back-and-forth Eastern Conference Final against the Flyers, the captain had four goals and an assist.
Through two games and some change against the Flames, he had two assists, both in the Lightning’s 4-1 win in Game 2. Along with the rest of his teammates, he had found it pretty tough sledding against the physical play of the Flames. How physical? Game 1 didn’t have an official fight, but there were five roughing penalties and an unsportsmanlike conduct. Game 2 was a blight on civilized hockey as there were two official fights (Cory Stillman vs. Andrew Ference and Andry Roy vs. Chris Simon) six roughing penalties, and seven (!) misconduct penalties. Even Lady Byng winner Brad Richards picked up a roughing call in that disaster of a game.
Game 3 was heading much the same way as just 21 seconds into the game, Martin Geleinas almost decapitated Pavel Kubina with a leaping elbow to the head. So, once Iginla started giving Lecavalier the business behind the net later in the opening frame, it was no surprise that Vinny snapped and engaged in the physical negotiations.
Watching the fight now, it’s kind of shocking that it was as short as it was. While 20 seconds is still a decent amount of time to throw a bunch of punches, at the time it seemed a lot longer. Back then, through partisan eyes, it also seemed to be a decisive win for Lecavalier, now it seems more of a draw, if not a slight victory for the Flames’ hall-of-famer.
One thing that I do remember, is that as much fun as it was, it didn’t really hype the team up that much. Now, the Calgary crowd, that was a different story. They were borderline raucous to begin with and seeing their captain firing punches, ratcheted things up to another level. The Flames fed off of the energy on the way to a 3-0 victory, thanks to Iginla’s Gordie Howe Hat Trick, and a 2-1 series lead.
Reading the Tampa papers after the game (gotta justify that newspapers.com subscription!) the fight was almost an afterthought for the Tampa press. The bigger storylines concerned an anemic Lightning power play (they were 2-for-18 through three games), Miika Kiprusoff stoning Richards on a breakaway, and Robyn Regehr driving Ruslan Fedotenko into the boards face first. Oh, and they also mentioned that of the 24 times a team had lost Game 3 in a series that was tied at one win a piece, only three teams had come back to win the Cup.
While Lecavalier didn’t win the fight, and the Lightning didn’t win the game, it showed everyone that they weren’t going to be pushed around by the big, bad Flames. Maybe it had a bit of an affect on Calgary as well. Over the last four games of the series, there were no more fights, and the only roughing call came from Andre Roy in Game 6 (although Ville Nieminen did get suspended after boarding Lecavalier in Game 4).
While Coach John Tortorella enjoyed seeing his captain playing with emotion which he referred to as “good stuff”, he wanted to see more scoring out of his team, stating prior to Game 4, “He [Marty St. Louis] has to along with Vinny, Richy, Modin, Stillman, they all have to raise their games. It’s not a criticism. It’s not calling them out. As each game goes by in a finals, you’re damn right they better raise their level.”
Richards and St. Louis got the message as they scored a combined 5 goals over the next three games, but Vinny continued to struggle offensively (the possible concussion from Nieminen didn’t help), but he did manage to set up the most important goal in franchise history:
That effort to set up Fedotenko’s second goal, which was the eventual Cup-winner, showed off everything about Lecavalier. The strength, the agility, and the vision to make the pass. He also ate a crosscheck after making the pass, but that was hockey back then.
If y’all were around for that Cup fight, what were your thoughts about it at the time?
Other Hockey News
Jaccob Slavin wins Lady Byng [NHL.com]
Congratulations to Mr. Slavin for his gentlemanly play and sportsmanship. Brayden Point finished fourth in voting.
Remembering the most unlikely overtime hero in each team’s history [The Athletic]
Jason Garrison edged out Brian Bellows for the unlikeliest Bolt to score a playoff overtime goal.
Honestly, I would have gone with Dan Girardi against Boston.
Evolving Wild’s contract projection for Stamkos [Evolving Hockey Twitter]
Their model puts his value at three years with an AAV of $8.4 million. Although, on a one-year deal at $3.9 million also pops up on their chart. That’s intriguing.
NHL reveals Stanley Cup schedule [Sportsnet]
Say goodbye to the concept of game-to-game momentum in this series. There are two-day gaps between Games 2 and 3, Games 4 and 5, Games 5 and 6, and Games 6 and 7. If the series goes the distance, teams will have a whopping four days to get ready for the draft and a week to prepare for free agency.
