It was a missed opportunity, but the Tampa Bay Lightning still hold the series lead. Up 3-2 in the Stanley Cup Final, they get a second chance to hold a celebration at center ice inside Rogers Place Monday night (8 p.m. ET, NBC; livestream) against the Dallas Stars.
One thing that has defined this Lightning team in the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs has been their ability to bounce back. Of the 24 games they’ve played inside a bubble this postseason, Tampa has only lost seven of them. Each loss has been followed up by a win, making them 6-0 since the Round-Robin after a defeat. The last time they posted consecutive losses was their two final games before the March NHL pause.
“The sting after a game, for both teams, whenever they lose, is usually that night,” said head coach Jon Cooper. “But the next day, I can only speak for our team, we’ve done a pretty good job of turning the page. When you are that close, you can sit here and say you can taste it, but in the end, we’re still up 3-2 in the series, and we feel pretty decent about our game, so let’s bring it [Monday] night and see what happens.”
[NBC 2020 STANLEY CUP PLAYOFF HUB]
In Tampa’s minds, Corey Perry’s goal in double overtime Saturday night was just delaying the party. After Mikhail Sergachev scored early in the third period, the Lightning were 16:22 away from winning their second Cup in franchise history. Joe Pavelski had other ideas.
It’s a tough pill to swallow, knowing you were a goal away from winning it all. But there are still two games max to play, and Tampa holds has the advantage in the series.
“We can’t rewrite history,” Cooper said. “We can’t go back and say, ‘What if.’ There were so many times in these playoffs that we were like, ‘Holy cow, I can’t believe we did that, or we did this.’ So that’s happened way more than second-guessing a missed shot or a post here.
“We’ve got a plan. It’s gotten us this far and we fully believe it’ll get us through the end.”
Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Dallas Stars (TB leads 3-2)
Stars 4, Lightning 1 (recap)
Lightning 3, Stars 2 (recap)
Lightning 5, Stars 2 (recap)
Lighting 5, Stars 4 [OT] (recap)
Stars 3, Lightning 2 [2OT] (recap)
Game 6: Monday, Sept. 28, 8 p.m. ET – NBC (livestream)
*Game 7: Wednesday, Sept. 30, 8 p.m. ET – NBC
*if necessary
MORE: Lightning rule out Steven Stamkos for rest of Stanley Cup Final
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Sean Leahy is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @Sean_Leahy.