Lightning turn page to Game 2 on Sunday

The Tampa Bay Lightning had a full night to stew over their poor performance in a 4-2 loss to the Washington Capitals to open the Eastern Conference Final.
On Saturday, the Bolts went to work rectifying their mistakes from Game 1 and putting the unsettling defeat in the rear view.
Sloppy passing, untimely turnovers, defensive breakdowns, non-existent forecheck, special teams issues, giving up too many odd-man rushes, lack of intensity: you name the most common hockey mistakes and the Lightning committed them Friday night.

"There were so many good things we've done in two rounds of hockey that I think if you bottled up all the bad things in those first 10 games, it would be about half of what we did in one game last night," Jon Cooper said Saturday afternoon following his team's practice at the Ice Sports Forum. "You fuel the fire of a good team, and that's what Washington is. I thought a lot of their opportunities we handed to them. A lot of our opportunities were snuffed out just by our not sticking to our plan of what's worked. We got a little cute. We didn't shoot. We didn't gap. So many things we didn't do, and it turned into a 4-2 loss. That's what you get."

The Lightning reconvened Saturday with an efficient, focused, intense training session where they got back to basics. Against the Capitals, Tampa Bay got away from playing the way that led them to five-game victories in back-to-back series against New Jersey and Boston.
They focused on regaining their game and remembering what got them to this point before a pivotal Game 2 Sunday night at AMALIE Arena.
"We all want to be a difference maker, and sometimes, mentally, you think you've got to do a little bit more or do something special, look for a hope play so to speak to make a difference," Bolts defenseman Ryan McDonagh said. "But for our group to be successful, it's when we make it easy on ourselves, hit a guy that's open right in front of you, make the simple play, get pucks deep and use our speed on the forecheck to create some havoc. We didn't get much forecheck going. Credit them, they broke the puck out really well against us and took away a lot of our speed in the neutral zone, but we've got to find a way to get to our strength a little more."
The Lightning have been in this position before, as recently as one series ago when they started the Second Round timid and lethargic against Boston, leading to a 6-2 loss to fall into a 0-1 hole at home. But despite that four-goal loss, the Lightning had their chances in the contest. Two separate times, the Bolts trimmed a two-goal deficit into one, only to watch the Bruins build their lead back up again. In the third period, the Bruins pulled away with three-consecutive goals to make the final score look uglier than game plan dictated.
The Lightning outshot the Bruins 36-24 and created numerous scoring opportunities they were unable to capitalize on.
In Game 1 against Washington, the Lightning were thoroughly outplayed, save for the final period where the Bolts mounted a small comeback to cut their four-goal deficit in half, but with the Caps employing a more conservative approach to protect their lead.

In the Boston series, the Lightning simply needed to correct a couple minor elements of their game and make shots when presented to them.
Against Washington, the Bolts have a lot more issues they need to fine tune.
"The one thing you've got to remember, it's not the NCAA basketball tournament. It's not one and done. It's a best-of-seven," Cooper said. "You get a chance to make some adjustments to improve your game and really get a look at the other team. I think that's the one thing for us is some of these Game 1s, you're playing a new opponent, you're playing a different style. How are you going to make adjustments? It's rare that there are sweeps in the NHL playoffs. You have to go back to your roots of what's worked. It's hard to play flawless hockey all the way through, just look at all these playoff series and different swings in games. How do you explain Vegas beating San Jose 7-0 and then San Jose coming back and winning the next night? It's how it goes sometimes. We've just got to make sure we can bounce back. We're not dwelling on the negative. After this practice, the page has been turned and it's game on."
Video: Hedman on playing with consistencySTRALMAN, PAQUETTE SIT OUT: Anton Stralman and Cedric Paquette were the only two Lightning players not participating at Saturday's practice as both dealt with issues from Game 1.
Stralman didn't come out of the Lightning locker room for the start of the third period, but re-emerged around the midpoint of the period and finished out the game.
Paquette tried to block a puck with his left hand while on a second period penalty kill and looked to be in extreme discomfort as he made his way to the bench, although he returned to the game moments later and didn't miss a shift.
Cooper expects both to be available for Game 2 on Sunday.
"They'll be alright," the coach said.