Knights, Bolts jolted back to reality
Tampa Bay and Vegas need wins after losing home-ice advantage
LAS VEGAS— The Tampa Bay Lightning and Vegas Golden Knights were favoured to win their second-round matchups.
After losses Saturday, the Lightning and Golden Knights will be happy just to reclaim home-ice advantage.
The Sharks handed Vegas its first post-season loss in six games with a 4-3 double-overtime victory on Saturday night. Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper and Vegas coach Gerard Gallant each said it was their team’s worst performances of the post-season.
“I didn’t like the game we played, that was the main thing,” Gallant said Sunday before he and the Golden Knights left for San Jose. “Not just losing in overtime, but I didn’t like the game that we played the first 40 minutes.”
Cooper put the Lightning, who are down 1-0 against the Boston Bruins, through an in- tense, high-tempo practice Sunday in hopes of setting the tone for a more spirited performance in Game 2.
“The purpose of our practice was to put us in the best position to be ready to play (Monday night),” Cooper said. “Often times a lot of things in your game you develop in practice. We had a week off. We did some good things, but our game was not at a playoff level like the other team that had just played in a Game 7, and that’s what we have to bring (Monday night) or it’s going to be a long series for us.”
Boston’s top line of Brad Marchand (one goal, three assists) David Pastrnak (four assists) and Patrice Bergeron (two goals, one assist) combined for 11 points during Boston’s 6-2 win in Game 1. Conversely, Tampa Bay’s top line of Nikita Kucherov, Steven Stamkos and J.T. Miller went scoreless.
“With every round, you have to elevate your game, your in- tensity, everything, and we didn’t,” Cooper said. “We took a step back. A really good team showed us what happens when you do that.”
Much of the same can be said for Vegas. Instead of the team that looked crisp with every pass, and sharp with every shot on goal, the Golden Knights were undisciplined and sloppy through the first 40 minutes. The Golden Knights took a playoff-most 22 penalty minutes.
“We got a little too confident after Game 1, we came out a little slow in Game 2 and we just have to fix that and focus on a good start for Game 3,” Golden Knights defenceman Shea Theodore said. “We can’t take those kinds of penalties. When you’re in the box for a good portion of the night it’s not going to go good. It kind of bit us in the ass.”
The Lightning are 19-8 following a loss, while the Golden Knights are 20-10-1.
“We know they’re going to come back faster and harder than they did, and they played a really good game (Saturday),” Marchand said of the Lightning.