Even in a precarious situation on Sunday, the Tampa Bay Lightning did not give up and their background in recent years could say a lot about the outcome of the Eastern Conference Finals.
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The New York Rangers got a painful lesson from the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions, who came from a two-goal deficit to win 3-2 in Game 3 of the series, down 2 at 1 by the Blueshirts. Also, the “Bolts” relied on their experience to stay in control of themselves. They know the ingredients for success in the playoffs and desperation is not one of them.
“We have been in such situations before. The most important thing is that we had a recipe and we just had to stick to it, head coach Jon Cooper told the New York Post. On some occasions in this series, we’ve tried to make things that put us on our heels. We were out of sync.”
“I liked our five-on-five game. We have to stop there, while staying away from the penalty box.
Trigger
For Lightning players, it is also important to continue to follow the game plan, even when things are not going well on the ice. Down 2-0 in both Game 3 and the series, they had little room to maneuver and needed to act quickly. As is often the case in post-season games, it took the opponent’s penalties to get back in the game and play with a renewed spark.
“You are on the bench, behind in the game and the series. You feel the rhythm is on the other side and it’s really not easy. But at this time of year, that’s how it goes: it’s about finding a way to win, to overcome adversity. We’ve done that in recent years and Sunday’s game was another example of that.”
“That’s what we said before the match. We had to make our way to victory and now, what will happen will happen. The situation was not ideal, but nobody gives up in this group.
The word “panic” is obviously not in the mouths of the club’s color holders who prefer to look forward.
“Maybe in years past, maybe…panic would have kicked in at some point,” Cooper admitted. However, that’s really not it here. There is no doubt that having lived through the whole thing before has helped our state of mind.