Coach: Lightning know how to dig out of holes

BRANDON — Jon Cooper is confident the Lightning will be fine.

Experience tells the coach and his players they shouldn’t be overly concerned about losing the opening game of the Eastern Conference finals at home.

The way the Capitals are playing, though, it could be more difficult to rebound from a shabby performance this time.

Game 2 is Sunday night, and Cooper expects the Atlantic Division winners to be at their best.

“It’s unfortunate how we played a couple of these Game 1s in the last couple of rounds, (and) dug ourselves a small hole this series,” the coach said after a workout Saturday at the team’s suburban practice facility.

“I guess the positive side is we’ve been here before, so we’ve seen this. But we can’t keep playing with fire and dropping these Game 1s. All of a sudden you’ve thrown home ice advantage back at them. Now you’ve put pressure on yourself. You’ve got to win games on the road, which you have to do anyway in the playoffs, but your margin for error gets smaller and smaller. We’re really going to need a good effort (Sunday).”

The Capitals won the opener 4-2, ending an eightgame playoff skid against the Lightning dating to the 2003 postseason.

Alex Ovechkin, T.J. Oshie, Jay Beagle and Lars Eller scored for the Capitals, while rejuvenated goaltender Braden Holtby stopped 19 shots to help the Caps improve to 6-1 on the road this postseason.

The Lightning didn’t take solace in breaking through for two third-period goals.

“We dissected the game a little bit,” Cooper said. “There were so many good things we’ve done in two rounds of hockey that I think if you bottled up all the bad things in those first 10 games it would be about half of what we did in that one game last night.

“You fueled the fire of a good team, and that’s what Washington is. I thought a lot of their opportunities we just handed to them.”

The Capitals, in the conference finals for the first time in the Ovechkin era, said they can’t afford a drop-off in performance.

Beating the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Penguins gave them momentum heading into the series.

Coach Barry Trotz, mindful that the Lightning lost Game 1 of their secondround series 6-2 to the Bruins only to storm back and win four straight games, reiterated it won’t be easy to build off the Caps’ success in the opener.

“You get a little bit of confidence, obviously,” Trotz said Saturday. “At the same time we’ve got to realize Tampa Bay is going to have some desperation in their game. And, we better have some desperation in our game.”