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.