The Tampa Bay Lightning are gearing up for Game 4, and while it may not officially be a must-win, it certainly feels like one if they want to stay in control of this series.
After Friday’s 3-2 overtime loss, the Lightning were honest in saying their performance wasn’t where they wanted it to be. With all three games in the series going to overtime and the margin for error razor thin, head coach Jon Cooper is looking for more from his group on Sunday.
“We need more, because we need more to win,” said Cooper. “I’m not sitting here complaining about our team by any stretch of imagination. It’s just, we’ve got the plan. We just need to keep pushing it, do more of it, and we don’t need to change things.”
“Are there things we can do to help us be a little better? For sure. But like I said, it’s three overtime games. This is a coin flip right now against two teams with the same amount of points, but we are the one that has one less win, so we need more.”
Brayden Point is one of the players Jon Cooper is looking to for more production. He and Nikita Kucherov have combined for just two goals in the series, and while depth scoring always helps, the Lightning need their stars to lead the way in a game like this.
“Do you need those guys to rise above?” Cooper said. “ You do. We need more from everyone, not just those two.”
The Lightning will also make a change on the blue line for Game 4, with Max Crozier set to bring a physical presence in his first appearance of the postseason. The right-shot defenseman will play on the right side, and left-shot defenseman Emil Lilleberg will shift back to the left. Declan Carlile had filled in over the last two games after Charle-Edouard D’Astous was injured in Game 1. Cooper said D’Astous will miss Game 4 but is considered day to day moving forward.
Puck drop for Game 4 is set for 7 p.m. EST.
Lightning projected lineup
Gage Goncalves - Brayden Point - Nikita Kucherov
Brandon Hagel - Anthony Cirelli - Jake Guentzel
Zemgus Girgensons - Yanni Gourde - Nick Paul
Corey Perry - Dominic James - Scott Sabourin
J.J. Moser - Darren Raddysh
Ryan McDonagh - Erik Cernak
Emil Lilleberg - Max Crozier
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Jonas Johansson