Battle-tested Bolts look to bounce back in Game 2

One defining characteristic of Jon Cooper's Tampa Bay Lightning squads has been their ability to bounce back after a poor performance, which the Lightning certainly had in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final against Washington.
"That was a bad game the other night," Anton Stralman admitted.
In the Second Round versus Boston, the Lightning rebounded from a Game 1 loss to defeat the Bruins 4-2 in Game 2 on their way to winning four straight and eliminating the Bruins in five games.

In previous playoff series in 2015 against Detroit in a Conference Quarterfinal and the New York Rangers in the Conference Final and again in 2016 in the Conference Semis against the New York Islanders, the Lightning dropped the opening contest only to rally and eventually win the series.

Bolts head coach Jon Cooper was asked about his team's bounce-back trait prior to Game 2.
"The trait would be don't have a bad first game and then we don't have to answer those questions," Cooper said. "It's unfortunate that we have to put ourselves in those positions to bounce back because it's a dangerous business you're going down by always playing that bad first game. It's kind of been a little bit of a habit for them is when they've been pushed against the wall, they've usually responded. But you just can't keep going back to the well. Do I anticipate us playing a better game? I do. But I anticipate Washington's going to play a better game too. They can go up 2-0 and what an advantage it would be for them. Definitely pressure's on us tonight but the boys have responded well and I think they'll do it again tonight."
The Lightning have a playoff veteran group that's able to stay even keel despite the ups and downs that come with playoff hockey. Win one game and the fan base is already booking reservations for the Stanley Cup Final. Lose a game and those same fans wonder whether the team will ever win again.
The Bolts don't get caught up in the waves of emotion. Instead, they focus on playing their game and correcting their mistakes from game to game, continually looking to improve any way they can.
"We have an experienced group, and I don't think it's something we really think much about, up or down, it's just the next game," Stralman said. "You can have the worst game, but it doesn't change the way we go forward. I think we're a confident group. We know what our assets are and what our weaknesses are. It's up to us. We know what we want to do. We know what our game plan is."

Part of the game plan for Game 2 is to shoot the puck more. The Lightning controlled possession for the opening couple of minute of Game 1, but when they looked up at the scoreboard, they hadn't registered a shot on goal. The Capitals were doing a good job trying to suppress some of those shots by blocking and getting into lanes. But the onus is on the Lightning to make sure they're getting enough pucks on net and putting pressure on the Caps defense and goalie Braden Holtby.
"We've got to do a better job of shooting through guys and having a shot mentality first instead of a passing mentality," Bolts rookie forward Yanni Gourde said. "When you have a shot mentality, you don't hesitate, you shoot right away so they don't have time to get in the lane. They get in lanes and that's how they block shots. I think that mentality of shooting pucks is going to be a huge thing tonight. There was not enough shots last game, and I think it's going to be a big part of the game tonight. We need to shoot more."
Another change will be a return to the physicality that served them so well in the Boston series. The Lightning didn't have that aggressiveness and willingness to hit in Game 1 versus Washington that they did in the previous round. They'll look to a more physical approach to spark their game tonight.
"I don't think our dumps were as good as they need to be," said Tampa Bay forward Ryan Callahan, one of the leaders of the Bolts in the hits department. "In certain areas, we didn't have enough speed going through the neutral zone so it gave them a little bit more time to break out. To give them credit, they were moving the puck pretty well in their own end, making tape to tape passes, quick plays that can sometimes break down a forecheck. I think going into tonight, we just have to make sure we have some speed going through the neutral zone when we dump the puck in and are on top of their D quicker to make those little bump plays a little harder on them. That's when we're playing our best when we're not giving them time and space in the offensive zone."