With a trip to the Stanley Cup Final at stake in that one game, Islanders coach Barry Trotz said he doesn't feel the need to say much to his players other than to remind them what has gotten them this far.
"You play all year to get to this point and you get one opportunity, so it will be there," Trotz said. "So just stay in the moment. Stay in the moment. Enjoy it. Embrace it and don't get small. Don't get wound up. Just stay in the moment, stay calm and give your best effort."
That approach has served the Islanders well throughout the Stanley Cup Playoffs, helping them come from behind against the Pittsburgh Penguins and Boston Bruins in the first two rounds and getting them to Game 7 against the Lightning after they trailed 2-1 and 3-2 in the series. It also has proved to be a successful formula within games when they haven't started well.
New York has come from behind in seven of its 11 wins in these playoffs. The only time the Islanders had more comeback playoff victories was in 1980, when they had nine on their way to winning the first of their four consecutive Stanley Cup championships.
"I think our mentality is the same all the time," forward Cal Clutterbuck said. "I said this earlier in the playoffs, it's about narrowing your window of focus and just focusing on what's in front of you. During the game it's just the next shift, it's the next puck. If you get down a couple in a game, what can you really do but just continue to be yourself and really just keep going, and if you get it you get, if you don't you don't.
"Obviously, you'd like to get up early in a game, but we've had a lot of situations in the playoffs where that hasn't been the case and we won those games too. So for us it's just about worrying about what you're going to do the next time you step over the boards."
Having a short memory can be helpful, especially when the Islanders' last visit to Amalie Arena was an 8-0 loss in Game 5 on Monday.
"It was a disaster actually, to be accurate," Trotz said.
But the Islanders put it behind them, just as they did their comeback win Wednesday.
Trotz has spoken often about how momentum doesn't carry over from game to game in the playoffs, but confidence does. Trotz, who coached the Washington Capitals to the Stanley Cup in 2018, remembers well the confidence the Capitals gained from a 3-0 victory against the Lightning in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Final that season and how it helped them in winning 4-0 in Game 7 at Amalie Arena.
"I think you're going to have two focused teams, Game 7, with a chance to go to the Stanley Cup," Trotz said. "It doesn't get much better than that for either organization and all the players and all the coaches. It just doesn't. These are things that when you're a young kid or young coach, you dream of these situations. So there's one tomorrow night, and that's fantastic."
The winner will advance to face the Montreal Canadiens, who are in the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 1993 after defeating the Vegas Golden Knights in six games in their semifinals series.
The Islanders have a positive Game 7 experience to lean upon from a 4-0 victory against the Philadelphia Flyers in the second round last season. New York has 17 players remaining from the 20 who played in that game, including Beauvillier, forward Brock Nelson and defensemen Scott Mayfield and Andy Greene, who each scored goals.
"I think for myself and the team, you don't really think of it necessarily as a Game 7," Pulock said. "It's another hockey game that you've got to bring your best and win and move on or lose and go home. So I think for us our focus is just going to be on the right things and we're going to be ready to go and we're going to be ready to bring our best."
