The things they were doing against the Devils and Bruins aren't what they're doing against the Capitals. The crispness of passes, the quickness on the puck, the lack of turnovers. It's vanished for the Lightning, partially because of the opponent, but perhaps more because the Lightning have themselves suddenly become disjointed.
"We're probably not following our structure the way we have in the previous two series," Cooper said. "That's one thing. The second thing you hit on is execution. We get chances to make plays and our team has the ability to make plays and we're not.
"It's either pucks in the skates or it's too far ahead or you're putting it somewhere where they can't handle it. It's just unlike us. In saying that, in an 82-game season I could probably count 15 games where that happens. It happens. Nobody plays the perfect game. Nobody goes 82-0. Nobody goes 16-0 in the playoffs. It's just heightened when you're at this time of the year and this time."
It's discouraging. It's the worst time of the season to lose that edge, execution and ability to do all the things that got them to this point. Especially so quickly.
The Lightning are struggling to stop the Capitals, giving them too many turnovers and clear shots at goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy. They're seeing the Capitals clog their defensive zone, use their speed, while the Lightning aren't using their own. They also are struggling to get chances of their own, especially in Game 1 when Capitals goalie Braden Holtby made 19 saves and barely was tested.
They've scored four goals in two games, three on the power play, which is good news for the man-advantage statistics but bad news for a team that also needs to produce at even strength.
"We've obviously got to be more consistent over 60 minutes," Hedman said. "We're in a hole, but one team that can come out of it is us."
Hedman believes the Lightning can bounce back and reassert themselves, return to the play that got them to this point. He believes in the teammates and the team that had113 points in the regular season, most in the Eastern Conference.
But he, like the rest of the team, doesn't exactly have answers.
It has happened suddenly and, suddenly, the Lightning find themselves in a position where adjustments need to be made, perhaps changes. They might not have been panicking after Game 2, but there is a sense of concern, a sense that things have gone awry without a real explanation.
