Lightning 'dialed in' for Game 2 after deciding to hold full practice

SUNRISE, Fla. -- The Tampa Bay Lightning held a full team practice on Monday at Amerant Bank Arena.

They wanted to.

That alone is an indication of their mindset heading into Game 2 of the Eastern Conference First Round against the Florida Panthers on Tuesday (7:30 p.m. ET; BSSUN, BSFL, ESPN2, TVAS2, SN360). They trail the best-of-7 series after a 3-2 loss in Game 1 on Sunday.

"The guys wanted skate today and you don't always get that in the regular season," coach Jon Cooper said, "but we had a full team skate today. They were pretty dialed in."

Dialed-in? Yes. Panicking? No, but they also admit they need to find a way to get the series tied heading back to Tampa Bay.

"For sure," Lightning captain Steven Stamkos said. "I mean, listen, the old cliche is you want to, especially when you lose the first one, you want to split when you're on the road, so that's the goal.

"We have to come out and play a much better game, but there's certainly no panic in here. We've been on both sides, where we've won the first game and lost the series, and plenty of times where we've lost the first game and won the series, so it's just about executing the next game for us. "

One way for the Lightning to make that happen is getting off to a better start than they did Sunday, when they didn't have a shot on goal for the first 15:55 of the game, had 10 combined in the first two periods and 19 total.

"We have to be better at just generating some momentum early in the game," Stamkos said. "I thought after that we settled in it was pretty low-event hockey for both teams, which we're fine with and they're obviously fine with, too. They're a good defensive team but we'll just look to have a quicker start and maybe that can affect the outcome of the game."

One area the Lightning would also like to improve is the power play. They led the NHL in power-play percentage during the regular season (28.6 percent) and were 1-for-2 on in Game 1, the goal coming when Stamkos scored at 6-on-4 with the goalie pulled and 9.3 seconds left. They had a total of 3:01 of power-play time and just one shot on goal during their full two-minute power play in the second.

The Panthers had three power plays and Carter Verhaeghe scored a tiebreaking goal 58 seconds into the third that ultimately led to the win.

"We only had 1 1/2 power plays, so we need to get on the power play more, hopefully," Stamkos said. "And that's when you have the puck more than you can draw more penalties, and that's certainly part of it."

Overall, the Lightning were happy with how they played against the defending Eastern Conference champions, especially after the first 15 minutes, but the result wasn't there and that's all that matters.

"Our process was good, but good wasn't good enough," Cooper said, "and so we need to improve on that."

When asked if that good or bad, Cooper said, "Well, the bad thing is that result. Ultimately, we can't feel good about ourselves and say our process is good, our game was good, and go back 0-2, so there's no points in feeling OK about yourself.

"Did they overwhelm us? No. Did we overwhelm them? No. Was it a pretty darn even game? It was. They executed by playing a power play that we didn't defend well, and that was difference in the game. When we start chopping these teams that are pretty even together, it's one play can make it and they made the play. And we have to make sure in the next game we make the play."

That what it's all about for the Lightning, the next game, the next play. A team that has been in 24 postseason series in the past 10 years certainly knows about the hills and valleys of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

"No, listen, this team has certainly been through its fair share of highs and lows, and we know how to ride those waves," Stamkos said. "Game 1 didn't go the way we wanted. You can change the narrative quick if you can go out there and have a good game and win Game 2, so that's just the way the playoffs go. And we're certainly comfortable in those situations."

Which is likely a big reason why the Lightning decided to have the full skate Monday. Cooper said they developed a practice plan for the first four days of the series, but it could be adjusted.

It wasn't.

"It's tough, because we don't know our schedule and then it comes out right before we're about to play." Cooper said. "So we've mapped out the first four games what we're going to do and -- if they didn't want to, that's the other thing too -- they were all for it. We had good energy today."

Energy they hope is there from puck drop Tuesday.

"It wasn't the start we wanted, but at the same time I thought we did a good job of bending and not breaking and pushing them back," Lightning forward Nicholas Paul said. "But yeah, it's a series. One game down, forget about it. You have to win the next."