Lightning prepare for Eastern Conference Final versus Washington

The Tampa Bay Lightning advanced to the Eastern Conference Final after knocking out the Boston Bruins in the Second Round, but the way the Lightning see it, only half the job has been completed.
The Bolts have eight wins in the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs and still need eight more for their ultimate goal: hoisting the Stanley Cup at season's end.

"It's crazy to think it takes 16 wins and we've only made eight," said Lightning forward Chris Kunitz, who is the only player on the Tampa Bay roster to win a Stanley Cup with four on his resume, including the last two with Pittsburgh. "Obviously, they're going to get down to four teams and you're only halfway up the hill to get all the way there. It's a long grind and it's definitely something that we have to prepare for. But we go out there, prepare every day at practice like it's going to be our last and go out there and try to execute our game plan until something changes against Washington."
The Lightning set out to collect those final eight wins Tuesday at the Ice Sports Forum in their first practice in preparation for the Eastern Conference Final, which begins Friday at AMALIE Arena (8 p.m. puck drop) against the Washington Capitals, who are in the Conference Final for the first time since 1998.
"There is an obvious excitement about being here again, but it's kind of a different excitement," Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. "It's more we're on a mission excitement. It's a little different than it was three years ago with the same group. There's a confidence about them in the way we're playing, how we have arrived at where we are right now. A lot of that has to do because they've just been there before. Now you get to take a step back and say, 'Okay, what has worked for us before and what hasn't?' If there was a panic button in 2015, there doesn't seem to be one in 2018. It's all part of just because we've gone through that experience a few years ago."

The top-seeded Lightning have to be considered the favorite in the series against the Capitals after knocking off No. 2 seed Boston in the Second Round in just five games, winning four-straight at the conclusion of the series to advance. Washington finally made it over the hump after getting bounced in the Second Round each of the last three years. The Caps have qualified for the postseason 11 of the last 12 seasons but never advanced to the Conference Final previously, their luck finally changing when they were able to knock off playoff nemesis Pittsburgh in six games on Monday.
Despite the newness of the Conference Final for the Caps, the Lightning expect this series to be the most difficult one yet.
"It gets tougher as you go," Bolts captain Steven Stamkos said. "The quality of teams gets better. The teams are a little battle tested at this time of year. Obviously, you get to the final four, it's four really good hockey teams."
The Capitals present a unique challenge to the Lightning in that the two teams share a lot of similarities. They both go four lines deep and have superstars capable of taking over a game, most notably Alex Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov for the Caps and Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point for the Lightning.
Braden Holtby has returned in net for the Caps after losing his starting job in the regular season and going into the postseason. He ranks fifth in the NHL for goals-against average in the playoffs at 2.04, one spot ahead of Lightning netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy (2.20 GAA), who never allowed two or fewer goals in a playoff start coming into the 2018 postseason but has four starts surrendering just one goal already through 10 games of these playoffs.

"They've got a pretty deep lineup, obviously a very lethal power play and some forwards that can really change the momentum of the game with how good they are," Stamkos said. "We're going to need to rely on our depth as well and stay disciplined. That's something we talked about going against Boston too with how good their power play was. We saw firsthand, if we're going to take penalties, teams are going to make us pay. Washington's very similar in that regard. That'll be one of the keys for us."
Once again, the Lightning had a few days to rest after dispatching their playoff opponent in five games. Tampa Bay had six days without a game between defeating the New Jersey Devils in the First Round and the opening game of the Second Round versus Boston. The Bruins played three nights prior to Game 1 in Tampa in a do-or-die Game 7 against Toronto to keep its season alive and were already at peak playoff intensity. The Lightning's intensity had slipped after so many days between games.
The result? Boston got off to a quick start in the series, defeating the Bolts 6-2 in Game 1 at AMALIE Arena, a wake-up call for the Lightning,, before they rebounded to win four straight.
Tampa Bay is focused on not repeating the same mistake.
"That was a big topic for us today was how are we going to approach, I think we have one day less than we had against Boston. We lost Game 1," Cooper said. "We didn't feel we played all that bad to be honest, but we just weren't as sharp. We didn't have that edge you need to win playoff games. We clearly discussed that after Game 1. But what's our approach now coming into this Game 1 to not have that repeat? So it was a big focus for us today how we approach these next three days because as you move forward, things get tougher and tougher. You don't want to get into the habit of dropping Game 1 at home."