The game continues on with more borderline hits and non-calls. Vladdy clutches tightly to his hockey stick getting more and more afraid that the Montreal Canadiens will win yet another victory against them. They are supposed to be the victors. It is what is meant to happen! It's what Disney movies had taught him once upon a time: 'good guys win, bad guys lose.'

And yet, as the game carries on, the Canadiens have the upper hand. Maybe it is all in his mind. Maybe they are losing because he isn't thinking positively. But as his mind begins to wander and think, he can't help but think about his magical stick. Is Yzerchuk really okay and safe? He has to make it to the second intermission at least.

If he can just get an answer and calm his racing heart, maybe he can focus more.

But before long, he finds himself back out on the ice with his linemates. The Montreal players stare him down and, when normally he'd be in control of himself, at this moment he is not. He is rattled and he wants nothing more than to go to the locker room and get off the ice.

Vladdy spots his least favorite Hab and reluctantly skates over, heaving a huge sigh. He halts a few feet away, before he instantly hears, "Well, well, well, if it isn't everyone's favorite little Russian child, tell me Vladislav, how's this gonna feel?" Gallagher sneers as he brings his stick up at Vladdy's face, whacking him across the cheek with the blade.

Vladdy gasps and turns to the side briefly. He turns back, a red mark on his cheek. "You really wanna go there, Gally?"

"Yeah, come on," Gallagher replies, dropping his stick and shedding his gloves.

Vladdy shakes his head and rolls his eyes. "Not the time."

Gallagher rolls up his sleeves and balls his hand into a fist. "You sure?"

Vladdy gasps as Gallagher lunges at him. The blond Lightning Bolt cross-checks Gallagher, who snaps his stick in half and tackles him to the ice, pinning him down. "Gally, get off of me! It's not the time."

"Come on, I got a little present to show you, baby Russian," Gallagher says.

"You're insane!" Vladdy grunts, kicking upward, not caring about cutting Gallagher.

Ondrej and TJ turn and see what is happening and make to skate over. The ref blows his whistle but the two players on the ice ignore it. Ondrej is quickly grabbed by Max Pacioretty and Andrei Markov though, while TJ is halted by Alexei Emelin.

"Let the little boy handle it..." Pacioretty snarls, gripping tightly to the fighting Ondrej's wrist.

"Patches, let me go!" Ondrej snaps.

Markov twists Ondrej's other arm making him scream in agony. "Shut up, Palat!"

Vladdy pushes upward against Gallagher, who snickers wickedly. "Let 'em go, Gally! This isn't about them."

Emelin bear hugs TJ, who grunts with displeasure. Victor Hedman skates over and skids to a halt, prodding Gallagher with his hockey stick and then throwing it away and grabbing the Habs' jersey.

"Get off of him Gally!" Hedman growls and yanks Gallagher backward off of Vladdy, who scrambles to his feet.

"What's the matter with you, Gally?" Vladdy hisses, brushing himself off and fixing his uniform. "Let's just play some frickin' hockey here!" He heads to the bench and sits down beside Steven, who pulls him in for a hug. "Don't put me out there with him again."

Steven pats him in comfort and turns to Cooper, giving him a stern look. He then speaks in third person, "Vladdy, Stammer's always gonna be here to have your back. I promise."

Vladdy nods and buries his head into his teammate's chest.

The game continues on with Gallagher getting a 5 minute major penalty for fighting. Ryan Callahan takes Vladdy's spot in the box and he goes off, yelling insults at the Montreal pest, who chirps back. They jaw at one another, furiously. 

Unfortunately as the clock winds down to under two minutes left in the period, the Canadiens manage to score yet again making it 3-1.

Steven Stamkos hops onto the ice with Vladdy. He takes the faceoff and wins it. As he receives it from Vladdy later in the shift, he gets hit awkwardly into the boards by none other than Emelin and collapses to the ice at once, grabbing at his arm. Vladdy gets a shot on goal and spins around to see him.

Vladdy gasps and skates rapidly to his captain. "Stammer, no. You can't be hurt! You can't! We need you! Oh Yzerchuk, we need you Stammer. Please."

Steven attempts to move his arm and get up, but screams in pain and leans against the boards. "I can't."

"Stammer, get up!" Vladdy begs.

Steven looks at Vladdy. "You've got this. I have faith that everyone can do this without me. Finish the game and beat them by scoring. That is the only way." The captain of the Lightning smiles at Vladdy before pain fills him once more. "Win it for me, Vladdy!" (It's like Stammer's dying in my brain...)

Vladdy grabs Steven's good arm and with help from Victor, they get the captain to his skates and over to the bench. Steven exits the ice, nursing his arm.

"Win it for me Vladdy! You got this! May Yzerchuk be with you!" Steven says, before he disappears down the tunnel and out of sight.

Vladdy watches him leave and then looks at Victor, who smiles down at him. The defenseman puts a hand on Vladdy's shoulder and nods at him and then skates off.

And, just when things couldn't get any worse for the Lightning, the next shift with under a minute left to go in the second period, Vladdy takes the ice with his linemates, including the ever tough Tyler Johnson, who has recovered completely from the non-called high-stick to his face at the faceoff. Vladdy wins the puck at the draw against David Desharnais and gets it back to Victor Hedman.

Vladdy receives the puck in front of the Montreal bench, where Gallagher is yapping at him. In the next heartbeat, Vladdy spots Alexei Emelin charging at him. He gets the puck up and tries to brace himself for the oncoming hit but he doesn't have enough time.

Emelin slams into him, sending him into the boards and over into the bench. Vladdy gasps and realizes that it is a setup. He screams out for help, before a hand clamps over his mouth and he sees Gallagher smirking down at him.

"Turns out, I know your secret," he says vaguely. "Also, it's time for you to stop 'wreaking chaos'."

With his teammates' help (minus Alex Galchenyuk, who is looking down at his feet), Gallagher drags Vladdy completely into the Montreal bench and then toward the tunnel. Vladdy kicks and struggles, trying desperately to get free and he tries to call for his teammates' help. "I told you 'Daddy wouldn't always be there for you'!" Gallagher sneers, as he lugs the struggling Tampa forward from the bench.

Emelin brushes himself off and skates back into the action, snorting with pleasure.

TJ glances over to the boards and spots Vladdy in Gallagher's arms disappearing down the tunnel. "Vladdy!" TJ cries and he makes to head over to the bench, when Emelin slams into him from the side.

TJ flies to the side and crashes to the ice. He snaps his head up to see Emelin beaming at him. He then glances back toward the tunnel and bench and sees that Vladdy is gone. The small Lightning player scrambles to his skates, shaking off the rough hit and snaps, "WHERE IS HE?"

"Where is who, Pint-Size?" Emelin sneers.

"You know who! I saw Gally dragging Vladdy down the tunnel!" TJ snaps at him, getting into the defenseman's face as best as he can.

"Well, he is a Montreal Canadien...technically..." Emelin retorts.

"PALLY! KUCH!" TJ screams out. "Triplets Assemble!"

Emelin rolls his eyes and backhands TJ away, sending him to the ice with one fluid swing of his arm. The small Lightning forward crashes to the ground, hitting his head and knocking him out cold.

"Johnny!" Ondrej gasps. "Ref, blow the damn whistle!"

The whistle blows and the plays stops dead. Emelin snickers, skating to the bench, where he high-fives Markov. Ondrej, meanwhile, drops down to his fallen teammate. First, Steven, now Vladdy is missing and TJ is knocked out cold...and to make matters worse, Montreal is winning.

Ondrej shakes TJ. "Come on Johnny, you're okay. We can't have three people out. And Vladdy is missing! We need you, so wake up!"

TJ blinks awake, groaning and sits up. "I'm fine, Pally. But...I gotta get to the bench. This game is over."

Ondrej nods and helps him to his feet. TJ shakingly enters the bench and heads down the tunnel. The Czech player is joined by his Russian friend, who is in tears.

"TJ...?" Nikita chokes out.

Ondrej hugs him. "TJ's gonna be alright. So will Stammer and Vladdy, wherever he is...come on let's finish out the period." 

Nikita nods his head and they skate to the bench.