TAMPA, Fla. – You know it was a late and long night when with 10 minutes remaining in the third period Amalie Arena was maybe – maybe – half full.
Alas, a 6-2 defeat at the hands of the defending Stanley Cup champ Panthers in Game 1 of this postseason was just that – a Game 1 defeat. Not a series defeat.
Indeed, the teams go at it again Thursday evening at a much earlier 6:30 pm, after Tuesday night’s contest faced off at 8:48 and concluded at 11:27 pm.
“We lost the game, you turn the page and move on,” said Lightning coach Jon Cooper, who also lost Anthony Cirelli early in the second period to an undisclosed injury, though the forward went for a skate and flexed his right leg during a television timeout.
Moving on, of course, is the only thing Cooper’s team can do after allowing three goals on their first three shorthanded situations and six goals on 16 shots for the game. Don’t blame Andrei Vasilevskiy, though, as the ‘Big Cat’ was often hung out to dry.
READ: NHL Announces Schedule Updates For Lightning-Panthers And Avalanche-Stars First Round Series
“We have to be better, we have a pretty good penalty kill,” said Cooper, whose unsuccessful goaltender interference challenge on Nate Schmidt’s goal that gave the visitors a 3-1 lead at 4:41 of the second period led to a Matthew Tkachuk goal 14 seconds later on the ensuing powerplay. “But 3-for-3, that’s on us.”
It’s also on them to turn things around Thursday night. After all, heading down to Sunrise in a size-two hole would not be advisable one year after losing in the first round to the Panthers in five.
“We have another level that we can get to and we’ve done it before,” said Ryan McDonagh. “Our belief in the system is there, the guys in the room handling adversity. It’s playoff hockey and we know we have to respond here.”
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