The Tampa Bay Lightning are trailing Auston Matthews and the Tampa Bay Lightning in their first-round series of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs, two games to one.
The Bolts won Game 1, 7-3, but have lost Game 2 (7-2) and Game 3 (4-3 via OT) at home and on the road, respectively. Tampa Bay's loss in Game 3 was a heartbreaking one, as the Bolts gave up a game-tying goal to Maple Leafs center Ryan O'Reilly with just a minute remaining in regulation. Morgan Rielly would later shut the door on Tampa Bay with a goal in overtime. Having said all that, Lightning head coach Jon Cooper did not find a single soul with a long face in the locker room after Game 3.
Via Chris Krenn:
“Being around this group, I never look at the group and walk in and say, ‘Oh this team looks defeated.' I think that's one of the things that has made me proud about our group. There's always fight in the dog. I just felt that night coming in, there was more anger than depression. I really liked that. I think they wanted to just play this game. They would've played it right after last game. There was a lot of that. There was no hanging the heads. There was no like, ‘I can't believe we lost that.'”
The Lightning have been to the Stanley Cup Finals in each of the last three seasons. They missed out on a three-peat last year when they lost in the Stanley Cup Finals to the Colorado Avalanche, but it's long been made clear by the team that they are a generational group, as evidenced by the franchise's two Stanley Cup rings since 2020. This is a bunch that has gone through a lot and with a ton of winning experience in the postseason. They know what it takes, and they are aching to get back on the ice and put that championship poise on display as they look to grab the momentum back in the Maple Leafs series.
Tampa Bay will look to even the series against the Maple Leafs when it hosts Game 4 this Monday night.
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