BRANDON — Experience, even brief, provides invaluable lessons.
Last season’s playoff experience for the Lightning was as brief as it could be. With a roster littered with young players with little or no postseason experience, Tampa Bay was swept in four games by Montreal. The playoff run lasted all of seven days.
“We all left last year with a sour taste in our mouth,” associate coach Rick Bowness said. “Regardless of what we did in the regular season, it doesn’t mean anything once the playoffs start.”
It was a bitter lesson, but considered it learned.
“We had a lot of young guys that haven’t had any playoff experience and now we kind of know what we are getting ourselves into,’’ said left wing Alex Killorn, a playoff rookie last year.