TAMPA, Fla — The Lightning will be shorthanded when they take the ice Saturday afternoon in Sunrise. Forward Brandon Hagel was whistled for a five-minute major penalty for his above-the-shoulders hit on Florida's Aleksander Barkov in the third period of game two. Hagel has been suspended and will miss Game three of the series, ESPN is reporting.
"We have tons of capable players that can step in who’ve played big games before. We can adapt. We’ll be okay," Cooper said
The numbers don't favor the Lightning heading into Saturday's game three against the Florida Panthers. Tampa Bay fell into a 0-2 series hole after losing 2-0 Thursday night at AMALIE Arena. Teams that go down 0-2 in the NHL playoffs only manage to come back and win the series 14% of the time.
But Tampa Bay's been here before. They trailed the New York Rangers 2-0 in the 2022 Eastern Conference Finals before reeling off four straight games to win the series. The circumstances are different, but Lightning head coach Jon Cooper believes in his team's ability to battle back in the face of adversity.
"I think we’d be making a huge mistake sitting here thinking down the road. Let’s just worry about this time tomorrow and keep putting in the effort we’ve been putting in this series and see where everything falls," he said after Friday's practice. "With the history of this group I’ll take our chances."
Tampa Bay has only scored two goals in the first two games of the series. They've had stretches where they've played good defense without finding the back of the net. The players think there's enough offensive production left in the tank to get this team back in the series.
"Just gotta try to find some dirty goals, getting to the net. Some tips, deflections, some rebound chances," center Luke Glendening said after practice. "I liked our game yesterday, honestly. I thought we played pretty well. We just gotta stick with it."
Game three between the Lightning and Panthers is set for tomorrow at 1pm at Amerant Bank Arena.
"I felt like it was really strong-arm robbery."
Drivers hit with school bus camera fines in Polk County are frustrated that they must first pay more before appealing their ticket.
