Champions don’t panic and that was the modus operandi from Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jon Cooper on Thursday morning, hours after the Avalanche’s 4-3 Game 1 overtime win in the Stanley Cup Final.
“To me, itap about winning the series, itap not about winning Game 1,” Cooper said during a Zoom video conference. “Would we like to win every single game? There’s no question. But we’ve also started on the road in all four series. Letap turn the page and see if we can get Game 2.”
Like the Avalanche, the Lightning did not practice and is expected to skate Friday ahead of Saturday’s Game 2.
Tampa Bay is in the final round for the fourth time since 2015. During those 16 individual rounds, the Bolts are 7-9 in Game 1s, including 1-3 this year. They lost at Toronto, won at Florida, lost at the New York Rangers and lost to the Avs. By comparison, the Avs are 4-0 in Game 1s this postseason.
“If this was (best) two out of three, maybe our emotions would be a little different, but itap a best-of-7,” Cooper said. “For us, itap about getting our feet under us and understanding we’re playing a different team.”
The Lightning was slow to rev up in Game 1, falling behind 2-0 and 3-1 in the first period. It found its game in the second period, scoring twice in 48 seconds to tie the score.
“There were two phases of the game,” Cooper said. “Clearly, the first 10 minutes, we sat back a little bit, definitely more than we wanted to do and then (there) was a time after we tied it at 3 — some in the second and then in the third — when I think we were almost content to push the game to overtime.”
The Lightning was outshot 12-5 in the third period and did not have a shot in the 83-second overtime.
For the second time this postseason, the Lightning has two days between games in the same round. In the second round, it skated through Florida 5-1 in Game 3 while playing on extra rest.
Is an extra day good for Tampa Bay after losing to the Avs?
“When you lost a game in overtime, you almost want to play the next night, but because we haven’t played this team in a while, we have a game under our belts for the coaches to tackle and see if there are adjustments we can make,” Cooper said. “For us, itap a good thing. The tough part for us, we came (to Denver) two days (before Game 1) and we have another two days (off) so itap a 6-7-day trip just to play two games.
“But thatap what happens when you’re the road team. Can’t complain — we should have got more points in the regular season.”
