Lightning to ‘get away from the game’ after OT loss to Panthers

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Jon Cooper is ready for his Tampa Bay Lightning to get away for a day after dealing with one-goal losses in each of the first two games of the Eastern Conference First Round against the Florida Panthers.

“We’ve been together a lot here in the past 5-6 days,” the Lightning coach said after another 3-2 loss, this one in overtime in Game 2 at Amerant Bank Arena on Tuesday. “Go home, be with the families, get away from the game and we'll circle back for Game 3. And then put a little bit better foot forward than we did these last two games because we have put a good foot forward, [but] we just need to be a little bit better. You learn from moments in a series, and we’ll see how much we’ve learned.”

The best-of-7 series shifts to Tampa for the next two games, starting with Game 3 at Amalie Arena on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; MAX, TBS, BSFLX, BSSUN, BSFL, TVAS2, SN).

After losing their sixth straight overtime playoff game, the Lightning are facing another negative statistic as they head home: five consecutive playoff losses at Amalie Arena. Four of them were in overtime, and all five were decided by one goal.

The last time Tampa Bay won a home playoff game was 6-2 against the Colorado Avalanche in Game 3 of the 2022 Stanley Cup Final. The Lightning trailed 2-0 in that series and ultimately lost in six games. However, they were also down 2-0 in the Eastern Conference Final that postseason before winning four straight against the New York Rangers to advance.

Captain Steven Stamkos isn’t concerned about the past and just wants his teammates to focus on Game 3.

“Down 2-nothing, (we’ve) got to go home and win some games,” Stamkos said. “You’ve just got to win the next game. Take care of one game at a time. The swings and momentum and ebbs and flows of a series … obviously it’s a big hole, but we have done it before. Just got to win the next game.”

Tampa Bay played 11 forwards and seven defensemen Tuesday, inserting rookie defenseman Maxwell Crozier and veteran defenseman Calvin de Haan to replace defenseman Nick Perbix and forward Tanner Jeannot.

Cooper hasn’t confirmed whether he’ll stay with that alignment or perhaps make more changes for Game 3. If the Lightning go back to using 12 forwards and six defensemen, Cooper could look to veteran forward Conor Sheary to enter the lineup. Sheary has 23 points (seven goals, 16 assists) in 72 Stanley Cup Playoff games, including championships with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2016 and 2017.

“This group knows how to get it done and tonight this lineup was so [darn] close to getting it done, they just didn’t,” Cooper said. “But there are a lot of things that say, ‘Hey, this works,’ and there’s some that look at this and say, ‘Clearly this doesn’t work.’

“But I’ve watched this team for the last month and a half do things that I don’t think people thought we could and now we’re here. And now we have to do the same thing in this series.”