| [JAY LAPRETE | Associated Press] |
| Why Lightning's final 'dress rehearsal' is important |
| The Lightning aren't a team overly concerned about their opponent. To them, it's more about their own game, because they feel that if they play to their abilities, there are few situations where they can be beat. So going into Game 82 of the regular season, the Lightning are less concerned about how their first-round playoff matchup shakes out — and whether they will face Toronto or Carolina — than they are about the way they're playing going into the postseason. And they've been playing well as of late. Over the past three weeks, we've seen the kind of disciplined, defensive-minded and physical hockey that wins games in the playoffs. It's helped that the Lightning's top players have come into their own offensively. But that momentum hit a speedbump Thursday in Columbus, when Lightning coach Jon Cooper was flummoxed by his team's effort in a 5-2 loss to the Blue Jackets. So while the Lightning control their destiny in terms of setting their first-round opponent tonight against the Islanders, they'd rather recapture the positive vibes they had built and take them into the playoffs. "When you get into the second season here, you want to be feeling like we were feeling some of these games previous to this," Cooper said. "And maybe it's a little bit human nature, but you can't let the guys off the hook. We've got to get a little more urgency to our game, there's no doubt about that." |
No comments:
Post a Comment