Jon Cooper walked into the locker room and didn’t get the sense Lightning players were down in the dumps about losing the first two games of the Eastern Conference final.

”It was more kind of like an anger of like we want to get back – like let’s get Game 3 going here Authentic Customized Falcons Jerseys ,” Tampa Bay’s coach said.

Game 3 on Tuesday night in Washington can’t come soon enough for the Lightning, who are in a historically difficult spot after losing twice at home to open the series.

Of the 41 previous times a team lost the first two games in the conference finals, 39 went on to lose the series – including every team that lost its first two at home.

”For us, it’s all about resetting everything,” defenseman Victor Hedman said Monday. ”There’s no panic. We’re obviously not happy with losing two games on home ice, but that is not something that goes into our locker room.

”We’ve got the experience. We’ve got the guys that are in the playoffs for the first time, guys have been through this, and we’re capable of handling that.”

The Lightning under Cooper haven’t lost the first two games of a series since 2014, when they were swept in the first round by Montreal. That was a learning experience players could point to when they went to the Stanley Cup Final in 2015, but right now it’s just an ugly deficit.

It is the same deficit the Lightning erased against the Capitals in 2003.

”If you just look where you stand in the series, I feel like it’s a big mountain to climb,” said former Lightning captain Martin St. Louis, who was on that team. ”They got to focus on just winning the next game. And I truly believe if they do that, it’s going to be a long series.”

After not allowing Boston to score an even-strength goal in the final three games during the second round, Tampa Bay has been outscored 7-1 by Washington at even strength and 10-4 overall.

Asked what the Lightning needed to do better Jeremy Kerley Jersey Bills , three-time Cup-winning defenseman Ken Daneyko responded, ”Where do we begin?”

”They were so responsible defensively, making good puck decisions and through the first two rounds they didn’t give up a whole lot,” said Daneyko, now an NHL Network analyst.

”Just mental breakdowns, mental mistakes by Tampa Bay. You never know why it turns so drastically like that when they were so sound against the Bruins. That can’t happen.”

Mistakes are happening in abundance, most notably passing up shots that lead to opportunities the other way. And ill-timed penalties late in periods have led directly to Capitals power-play goals, which definitely can’t continue happening if the Lightning want to make this a series.

”We need to do a better job of not getting in that situation, not letting two games in a row, 7, 8 seconds left on the power play and they get one,” defenseman Dan Girardi said. ”That’s something we can definitely control ourselves.”

As clinically as Tampa Bay eliminated New Jersey and Boston in five games apiece, Washington is rolling behind the scoring of Alex Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov and the goaltending of Braden Holtby, who has stopped 52 of 56 shots through two games.

The Capitals are feeling confident right now, but after falling behind 0-2 on home ice in the first round and roaring back to beat Columbus Cheap Oren Burks Jersey , they understand how fast things can swing.

”We’re off to a heck of a start, but we’ve got to take care of business at home,” defenseman Matt Niskanen said. ”If they win one or two here, boy, the momentum switches big time.”

For the Lightning to win one or two games, they’ll need to get better production out of captain Steven Stamkos and winger Nikita Kucherov and better play out of goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, who hasn’t been at his best.

”He’s going to have to be great,” said Keith Jones, a former NHL forward and current NBC Sports analyst. ”He’s being challenged to look through traffic and stay up. … Vasilevskiy’s going to have to play unbelievably well unless the Capitals take a step back.”

If the Lightning can’t figure out how to fix many of their problems from the net out, it’ll be a short series. Cooper sounded confident of a turnaround.

”There’s a really good group of guys there,” Cooper said. ”They’ve got a ton of experience and when their backs have been against the wall, they’ve shown a propensity to fight back. This is a tough one. We lost two at home and it’s definitely not an ideal situation. But we’re not done. It’s not over.”

NOTES: Capitals coach Barry Trotz said C Nicklas Backstrom, who has missed three consecutive games with a right hand injury, remains day-to-day. … Washington D Michal Kempny was fined $2,419 – the maximum allowed under the collective bargaining agreement – for cross-checking Lightning F Cedric Paquette during Game 2.

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The Washington Capitals can now turn their attention to the Pittsburgh Penguins and avenging some playoff disappointments.

The Capitals won four straight games over the Columbus Blue Jackets after fumbling the first two in overtime at home Authentic Cordy Glenn Jersey , capping their opening-round playoff series with a 6-3 victory Monday night in Game 6.

Alex Ovechkin scored twice, including his 50th playoff goal, and Braden Holtby had 35 saves to lift the Capitals, who never trailed after winning in overtime in Game 5 on Saturday. After Ovechkin’s second-period goals, Washington never relinquished a two-goal lead. Four of the games in the series went to overtime.

The Capitals will again move onto the conference semifinals after being eliminated by Pittsburgh in the second round in each of the past two seasons.

”I think we accomplished what we believed we could at the beginning of the series,” said Holtby, who relieved a struggling Philipp Grubauer in Game 2 and was great the rest of the way. ”We’ll enjoy it a bit, rest up and prepare for the next one.”

Washington coach Barry Trotz didn’t want to talk about Pittsburgh yet.

”Please let me breathe,” he said. ”We haven’t taken a breath since this started.”

Chandler Stephenson had a goal and an assist, and Dimitry Orlov, Devante Smith-Pelly and Lars Eller also tallied Monday for Washington, which never trailed in the game after prevailing in extra time in Game 5 on Saturday. The Capitals won each of the three games in Columbus.

”I do know on the road it seems like for whatever reason we’re focused, we’re driven,” Washington forward T.J. Oshie said. ”It seems like we almost like it when an opposing team’s crowd gets into it. It almost gets us going, too Michael Gallup Color Rush Jersey , and makes you want to quiet them down.”

The story for the Blue Jackets in the four-game stretch was their power-play futility. After going 4 for 8 with a man advantage in the first two games, the Blue Jackets were 0 for 16 in the last four.

”Beginning of the series, our power play was going,” said Blue Jackets captain Nick Foligno, who scored twice Monday. ”We were scoring at will. For whatever reason, it dried out. We’ve got to figure that out.”

Pierre-Luc Dubois also scored and Sergei Bobrovsky finished with 22 saves for the Blue Jackets, who lost in the first round of the playoffs for the second consecutive season and fourth time overall. They remain the only active NHL franchise never to win a playoff series.

The Capitals struck first again Monday night.

Shortly after Holtby held off a Columbus barrage, Orlov got his first goal of the series when he skated into the slot and rifled a slap shot over Bobrovsky’s glove side with 7:48 left in the first.

Foligno got his first of the playoffs halfway through the second when he snapped a shot past Holtby from the right circle. That came soon after the Blue Jackets survived overlapping penalties, including 32 seconds of a 5-on-3.

Ovechkin put back a rebound of a shot by Brooks Orpik to make it 2-1 with 7:10 left in the second, the 50th playoff goal of the Russian star’s career. He then gave the Caps a two-goal lead with a one-timer from the left circle on a power play.

The Blue Jackets tightened it to 3-2 early in the third when Dubois connected. But Smith-Pelly increased the Capitals’ lead again 91 seconds later. Stevenson got a short-handed goal 1 1/2 minutes later to pad it.

Foligno got the Blue Jackets to 5-3 at 8:22 in the third, but Columbus couldn’t get closer. Eller added an empty-net goal with 14 seconds left.

”It was a war out there,” Trotz said. ”It was a really strong series by them, and it forced us to the limit for sure.”

NOTES: Washington is the first team in NHL history to win a playoff series after losing each of the first two games at home in overtime. … Washington again kept the Blue Jackets’ best player Artemi Panarin off the score sheet after he had two goals and five assists in the first three playoff games… The Blue Jackets are 2-8 at home in four postseason appearances. … Ovechkin had five goals in the playoff series.

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