“Regroup.”
That was the catch phrase for the Tampa Lightning after “too many mistakes” Tuesday turned a 2-0 first lead into a 4-3 loss to the Maple Leafs in the pivotal Game 5 of their first-round playoff series.
The bottom line for Tampa: they’ve been the best team in the NHL the past three seasons at rebounding after a playoff loss. They’ve done so 16 times over that span, and they’ll need to do it again Thursday on home ice.
“The special teams, we lost that battle,” Tampa coach Jon Cooper said after his team took six penalties and gave up a huge power-play goal to Toronto captain John Tavares early in the second period. It was the Leafs’ first goal, and the spark they were looking for to prompt their comeback.
“Too many mistakes that ended up in the back of our net. That game was there for the taking for us, and we let it slip through our hands, and that’s on us.”
Tampa captain Steven Stamkos opened the scoring in a two-goal first period for the Lightning. Through four games in this series, a lead has stood up and had never been overcome. This game was the first time a lead was blown, and it hit hard for a Lightning team that has been the standard in the NHL for closing out playoff games and series recently.
“We knew they were going to push back, and give them credit, they pushed back,” Stamkos said. “When you don’t score on that five-on-three (in the first period), that’s a bad omen, I always say. We sat back too much and it cost us.”
Tampa twice took penalties to negate their own power-play advantage, and the Leafs scored both times with four players on the ice for both teams.
Tampa also took two penalties for too many men on the ice — inexcusable for a Stanley Cup champion.
“It has been so much (penalty calls) … I’ve never seen it like this, but please, don’t take this as an excuse,” Cooper said of the penalties (they’ve averaged five or more in each of the five playoff games).
“Special teams are a big part of the game, and you have to win those situations. We didn’t tonight, we kind of gave it to them.”
Cooper wasn’t denying the Leafs credit for their triumphant comeback. The coach was simply seeing undisciplined play out of his team. And against a high-octane offense like the Leafs have, it’s costing the Lightning.
“There’s two potent offenses out there,” Tampa defenseman Victor Hedman said. “When you give up chances to the wrong guys (on the Leafs), it usually ends up in the net. But we’ll regroup, we have a group that has been through this before.”
Tampa was on the brink of elimination against the Islanders in the Eastern Conference final last spring before clamping down for a series win.
They face elimination once again, but will be on home ice in Game 6.
“We played a great game for the first 15 minutes,” Hedman said. “They’re a great team, but we’re expecting to go home and have the same start, and then keep it up for the full 60 minutes.”
Added Cooper: “We let this game slip away, and that’s on us, but we didn’t let the series slip away.”
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