The Lightning took a slight step back last night in a 6-3 loss to the Panthers at Amalie Arena.
After an eventful matchup on Tuesday night in Orlando, the Lightning went head to head with the Panthers again on Thursday night, this time at Amalie Arena. Victor Hedman opened the scoring up early but Florida's Kevin Stenlund didn’t allow the Lightning to lead for long.
Florida's fourth line of Stenlund, Ryan Lomberg and Nick Cousins made their case with each player scoring. The Panthers outshot the Lightning 39-12 during the final 40 minutes of last night’s game.
"We've taken so many steps forward in this training camp. It's been great. Tonight we took a step back,” said head coach Jon Cooper after the game.
“I’m not going to make excuses for anybody. And training camp, it’s long, and you hit those points where you can see the light at the end of the tunnel, but there’s still more games to go before you get there.“
“When we look back here, the game doesn’t really count, but it just goes to show that when you’re not working quite the way you should be, the league’s too good to take any shifts off. We did that a little bit tonight.”
Nick Paul is using last night's loss as a learning experience heading into Opening Night.
“We’ll use this as a humbler and a stepping stone. If we're not going to skate and we're not going to have urgency and we're not going to win our battles, that's what's going to happen and you can't win hockey games like that,” said Paul.
Thursday was Victor Hedman’s second time seeing game action this preseason. He described getting back into game shape as a “process” but is feeling good four days out from the start of the regular season.
“I've had a blast, you know, getting to know the new guys, working hard in practice and then getting into game action. It's been great,” said Hedman.
“It’s a process and training camp has felt great. I think the coaching staff would say the same. You know, the work ethic has been phenomenal. Guys have paid attention, guys are settling in well, and guys are making an impression.”
Those vying for a roster spot will have one last preseason game on Saturday night to make their case. Jon Cooper hinted that the last few cuts would be coming following the conclusion of Saturday night’s game in Sunrise.
“Those of us who have been here a long time are going to lead the way,” said Hedman. “We’re going to be the best players on the ice every night and we’ve got to put that pressure on ourselves. And you know, we're looking forward to that.”
“It's just striving towards being better. And that's going to make us a very good team.”