The Tampa Bay Lightning are under no false illusions after losing the opening clash of their Eastern Conference first-round series.
The Lightning were not good enough and expect much better of themselves when they play host to the Montreal Canadiens for Game 2 of the best-of-seven series Tuesday.
Montreal claimed the opener 4-3 in overtime thanks to a trio of power-play goals — all by Juraj Slafkovsky, including the winner — while the more experienced Lightning were guilty of too many ill-timed and unnecessary infractions.
“I’m confident in this room,” Lightning forward Nick Paul said after Monday’s practice. “That’s one game.”
Both teams staked and then surrendered leads due to special teams. Tampa Bay scored twice with the man advantage.
In turn, Lightning coach Jon Cooper said a second look showed positives for his team to build upon if they can maintain better discipline.
“It was tight checking. Probably the opposite of what everybody thought this series would be like,” Cooper said of the 5-on-5 play. “There was a lot of good things to come on that side of the puck. But on the other side of it, we didn’t generate a whole ton.”
The Lightning have another trend to snap. They have lost seven consecutive playoff games that have gone to overtime, a run that began during the 2022 Stanley Cup Final loss to the Colorado Avalanche.
“That’s not on our mind,” forward Anthony Cirelli said. “We’ve got to go. Our emotions got to be up. We just have to have that urgency to win a game.”
Cooper said defenseman Charle-Edouard D’Astous, who left Sunday’s clash after taking a penalized check from Josh Anderson, was doubtful for the game, but he would not divulge whether Max Crozier or Declan Carlile would draw into the lineup if necessary.
The Canadiens last won a series in 2021, a playoff run that ended with a 4-1 series loss to the Lightning in the Stanley Cup Final.
As excited as they were to claim the opener of this series, the Canadiens are well aware of the need to park that victory and prepare for the level of play to increase as the hosts push to even the series.
“You obviously don’t want to go down 2-0, so they’re going to be more desperate,” forward Jake Evans said after practice Monday. “They have a lot of high-end skilled players, (they’re) probably not too happy with how things went, and (they) want to make a big push.”
The Canadiens were not exactly perfect in their performance, either. Montreal surrendered a pair of one-goal leads, and both times the Lightning used power-play goals to draw even. Plus, it took a strong opening period from goaltender Jakub Dobes to hold off Tampa Bay’s push out of the gates.
The Canadiens will also be focused on limiting penalties and gaining the upper hand at even-strength play.
“That was the first game, and I think there’s a little bit of a feeling-out process,” forward Cole Caufield said. “As a line, we can’t really take any risks, and they don’t give up much. We’re gonna find ways. We’re gonna find the answers.”
Just like the Lightning expect.
“Changes are going to be made every game,” Caufield said. “There’s something we can clean up and do better at. I expect the same from them. They’re a well-coached team. We’ve got to be ready for whatever.”
