Boston was superb in its effort to block shots Tuesday at AMALIE Arena, particularly in the third period when Tampa Bay was searching for the game-tying goal. But the Lightning could have been better too getting shots off quicker and finding shooting lanes around the Bruins' block.
"We've got to find ways to change angles," Maroon said. "They do a really good job of blocking shots. They protect the house really well. They put five guys in the middle of the house, and they protect really well and it's hard to get inside of them. But we've got to find ways. That just comes down to will and want and kind of battling through and getting in front of the net, changing the angle of the shot, making sure pucks do get through."
Playing in a hostile environment against a team eager to prove it's the team to beat not only in the Atlantic Division but the entire NHL, the Lightning can't afford to ease their way into tonight's game.
"It's about taking the play to them," Cooper said. "It's making sure we're not giving them time and space, but a lot of it comes down to executing. If you're not putting pucks on the tape and you're not putting pucks in areas that you can get them first, you can chase a little bit. That's what happens at times. We want to be the ones dictating where the puck goes and how the play is driven. When we do that, especially the way we did in the third period (Tuesday) against them, we want that. Part of that goes, we need to get more pucks to the net and take more advantage of the zone time we had in that period. More just dictating the pace."