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Jon Cooper is confident the Tampa Bay 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 Washington Capitals are playing http://www.officialhurricanes.com/authentic-adidas-andrei-svechnikov-jersey , 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, which we’ve done.
All of a sudden you’ve thrown home ice advantage back at them. Now you’ve put
pressure on yourself. You got to go 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 eight-game playoff losing skid to Tampa Bay dating to the 2003 postseason.
Alex Ovechkin, T.J. Oshie, Jay Beagle and Lars Eller scored for Washington Sean Taylor Jersey , 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 a pair of 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, and a lot of our
opportunities were stomped out just by our not sticking to our plan of what’s
worked.”
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 two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh gave them momentum heading into the series.
Coach Barry Trotz, mindful that Tampa Bay lost Game 1 of its second-round series 6-2 to Boston only to strom 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 at the team hotel 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.”
Andrei Vasilevskiy, Tampa Bay’s All-Star goaltender Authentic Daniel Sedin Jersey , yielded four goals on 25 shots in two periods after entering the series with an 8-2 record, 2.20 goals-against average and
.927 save percentage through two rounds.
The Lightning are confident they’ll play better in front of him in Game 2. The Caps expect the goaltender to bounce back, too.
”One thing you got to remember, this is not the NCAA basketball tournament, it’s not one and done,” Cooper said. ”It’s the best of seven, so you get a
chance to make some adjustments to improve your game and really get a look at
the other team. … It’s hard to play flawless hockey all the way through.”
The Caps don’t expect the Lightning to panic, either.
”Obviously, it doesn’t matter what we did in Game 1 when it comes to Game 2,” Beagle said.
”I would imagine there will be a really good push back from a really good hockey team. We’re going to have to stay focused, not get ahead of ourselves,”
Oshie concluded. ”I can’t imagine we’re going to see the same Tampa team we saw
in the first period the rest of this series.”
—

A week from now Tuukka Rask Jersey , the Charlotte Hornets and Orlando Magic will be in the early stages of reviewing how their seasons turned south.
On Friday, the teams will get together trying to get a win when Charlotte visits Orlando.
Charlotte (34-45) is concluding its second consecutive losing season since winning 48 games in 2015-16. The Hornets must win out to surpass last season’s
win total.
Inconsistency has plagued the Hornets for most of the season. They are on a four-game losing streak after winning their previous four. It is their fifth
losing streak of at least four games this season.
The Hornets will likely get a new general manager in the coming days. Rich Cho was fired Feb. 20 when the team was 24-33 and the team is working on an
agreement with former Los Angeles Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak, who holds four
championships and like owner Michael Jordan played collegiately at North
Carolina.
One thing any new GM will enjoy is Dwight Howard and Kemba Walker’s production, though the guard is struggling recently.
Howard owns the team record previously held by Larry Johnson in 1992-93 after posting his 50th double-double with 23 points and 17 rebounds in Tuesday’s
120-114 loss at Chicago. He has seven straight double-doubles and the Hornets
are 25-25 when Howard gets double figures in points and rebounds.
“I do think — and he knows this — he’s still got a lot left,” Charlotte coach Steve Clifford told the team’s website last month. “You can see it physically.
For him to get the respect that he wants and deserves, he’s going to have to be
on a team that plays well.
“Ultimately, it comes down to that. I know that he wants to go out on a high note and there’s a lot of things for players that are outside of what they can
be accountable for. I think for him, that’s what everybody’s looking for.”
Walker scored nine points Tuesday, marking a season-high third straight game with fewer than 20 points. Since his 46-point game on March 22 against Memphis,
Walker is averaging 17 points, shooting 43.4 percent and making 28.9 percent of
3-pointers.
Orlando (24-54) is concluding a fifth 50-loss season in the last six years since trading Howard in 2012. The Magic are 16-50 since opening the season with
eight wins in 12 games.
Orlando is attempting to get a season-high three straight wins for the third time. The Magic also won three straight Oct. 21-27 and Feb. 5-8.
Orlando completed a successful back-to-back set by posting a 105-100 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday. After rolling to a 97-73 win in New
York, the Magic did enough to win despite shooting 27.6 percent from 3-point
range.
Orlando is among the worst 3-point shooting teams in the league. Since making 18 in a win over Milwaukee on March 14 Art Monk Jersey , the Magic are shooting 28.5 percent (82 of 287) from long range in their last nine games.
Aaron Gordon rebounded from a 3-of-15 showing by scoring 20 points on 8 of 16 from the field Wednesday. Before then, he was shooting 30.6 percent in his
previous four games.
“It was an important night for him because he’s had a tough couple of games lately and we’ve been talking one-on-one about getting him going, taking the
right shots and playing within himself more and letting the game come to him
rather than forcing,” Orlando coach Frank Vogel told reporters. “He did a great
job with that tonight and as a result, shot a high percentage.”
The story for Orlando on Wednesday was how some players who were in the G League performed.
Jamel Artis scored 18 points after getting 16 in New York. Along with Khem Birch and Rodney Purvis, the trio scored 16 of Orlando’s 28 points in the
fourth.
They will likely see more time, especially if Nikola Vucevic rests like he did Wednesday.
“We do have a lot of chemistry because we’ve all been playing in the G League together,” Artis told reporters. “Down in crunch time, we know what each other’s
tendencies are, and we like to play together. We’re not selfish and we’re all
unselfish. We ended out the game and I think that (unselfishness) helped us get
the win.”
Charlotte has won the last 10 meetings since Dec. 16, 2015.
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