Lightning feel upbeat at home

Associated Press

TAMPA, Fla.

The Tampa Bay Lightning are back home after splitting the first two games of the Eastern Conference finals, feeling good about themselves, though hardly satisfied.

“We’ve got to play better to win this series, there’s no doubt,” coach Jon Cooper said Tuesday, adding the team has yet to “put our best foot forward” against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

“I think now that we’ve played them two times, we know a little bit more what to expect,” Cooper added. “But I know we’ve got more in the tank than what we’ve showed.”

Game 3 is Wednesday night at Amalie Arena.

“By no means am I sitting here saying: ‘Oh gosh we’re a way better team.’ Not at all. They have a lot to do with it as well,” Cooper said. “You don’t get to the conference final by fluke. They’ve got a really good team. There’s a reason they’ve had the (NHL’s) best record since February, whatever it is, and they’re playing well.”

The Lightning have been one of the NHL’s most resilient teams during the playoffs, so they’re confident they have the resolve to bounce back from a 3-2 overtime loss in Game 2 to regain the edge in the best-of-seven matchup.

Cooper is more concerned with eliminating mistakes that have contributed to a lack of scoring opportunities, as well as playing better defense in front of goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, who’s filling in for injured starter Ben Bishop.

Bishop left Game 1 with a lower left leg injury and is day to day. And, although Cooper said he’s optimistic the Vezina Trophy finalist will be able to return at some point in the series, it doesn’t seem likely Wednesday.

Not that the Lightning lack confidence in Vasilevskiy, who had 38 saves in Game 2 on Monday night.

“I feel bad for Vasilevskiy. That kid just plays lights out for us every time, and we just haven’t played very well in front of him. We seem to hang him out to dry at times during games,” Cooper said.

“We limited a lot of chances in the second period, but the first and the third were just way too many chances against,” Cooper added. “ Clearly, he was the reason the game was so close.”

The young goaltender settled after allowing two early goals, giving Tampa Bay a chance to dump the Penguins into a 2-0 series hole until Sidney Crosby scored the first overtime playoff winner of his career just 40 seconds into the extra period.

“He was unreal ... obviously the guy who kept us in it,” Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman said. “He’s been phenomenal.”