Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jon Cooper joked about his team’s poor performance in series-opening games after the team’s practice Thursday, but when the puck drops Saturday night, Cooper and his players will be all business about trying to reverse that trend.
“We’ve dropped so many Game 1s, we’re still trying to figure out how to win those games,” Cooper said with a laugh Thursday.
The Lightning are 2-5 in Game 1s during Cooper’s four-year tenure.. They beat Detroit, 3-2, to open the first round of the playoffs this year, but dropped a 5-3 game to the Islanders to open their second-round series.