TAMPA, Fla. – As a general rule, your playoffs haven’t started very well if you’re having a players-only meeting after just two games. No, this is not how the Tampa Bay Lightning envisioned things going.
A team that repeatedly defied the odds throughout the season found itself searching for answers as its first-round series with the Montreal Canadiens shifted to la belle province.
The Lightning players held a frank conversation following Friday’s 4-1 loss – “We said what needed to be said” in the words of rookie forward Cedric Paquette – and you can bet there was a lot of ground to cover. Even more concerning than a 2-0 series deficit is the fact that Tampa hasn’t played anywhere near its potential.
“The leaders took charge of the team,” said Paquette. “They just closed the doors and talked about what wasn’t going well and what we needed to do. It’s good not to wait for the coach to tell us what we need to do all the time.”
What the Lightning will be looking to do at the Bell Centre on Sunday night is throw a little doubt into this series. Everything has happened too easily for the Habs so far. Tampa has been unable to dictate the pace or set the terms for how the game is played despite opening on home ice.
One boost could come from the expected return of leading scorer Ondrej Palat, the Czech winger who was knocked out of game one with an upper-body injury and missed Friday’s game entirely. He took part in an optional skate on Saturday morning at Tampa Bay Times Forum and sounded like someone who planned to dress for game three.
However, as good as Palat has been for Tampa this season, his return alone won’t solve the deeper problems that have emerged for the Lightning early in this series. Of utmost importance will be finding a way to move the puck effectively through a neutral zone that has been clogged by diligent Habs checkers.
“We know we’re a much better team than that,” said Rick Bowness, the Lightning’s associate coach. “We’re a fast team, but you can’t play fast if you’re turning the puck over. You can’t play fast if you’re swinging all over the ice. Those little things – well, they’re not little, they’re big right now – we have to straighten those out.
“Take what’s there. If they’re standing up, just chip it in and let’s go to work. We’re losing our speed because we’re going (side to side) too much.”
One way or another, we will learn something about this Tampa team based on its ability to respond. This is an extremely young group that overcame the loss of Steven Stamkos for half of the season and the depature of captain Martin St. Louis, and is now adjusting to life without No. 1 goalie Ben Bishop – who may not even appear in this series.
It has basically been a tightrope walk from start to finish and Jon Cooper’s team deserves credit for successfully negotiating it during a 101-point regular season. However, their time might be up. This might be too much to overcome.
The only unknown variable is how Montreal will handle the return to its own rink, especially if things don’t go as planned. Cooper alluded to the pressure that comes with wearing the “CH” at the Bell Centre after Friday’s game and clearly believes that his opponent could be less composed on home ice.
And if there’s anything we’ve learned about playoff hockey it’s that everything can turn without notice. The Lightning will no doubt be made aware of the 2011 Habs team that won two games in Boston to open a first-round series and ended up getting beaten in seven.
Heck, Lightning forward Tom Pyatt played for Montreal in that series.
So as the Tampa players went through some soul-searching after two disappointing results, they also tried to remind themselves that they are still alive. Had they scored early in game two that one might have been different.
If they can do that in game three, their fortunes might change.
“We’ve been through a lot this year,” said Stamkos. “This is just piling up right now. We found a way every time and I expect the same now.”
