The Tampa Bay Lightning practiced Thursday for the first time since their second-round sweep against the Florida Panthers on Monday.
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When they start the Eastern Conference Finals is unclear as the series between the New York Rangers and Carolina Hurricanes will last at least through Saturday and possibly Monday. Tampa Bay Captain Steven Stamkos said he’s not sure how the break will affect the team.
“It’s nice to rest but I don’t know, you can look at it in different ways,” Stamkos said. “We have a long time between series of games and some players are injured, so it’s good if they can recover. On the other hand, you’re used to playing every other day and that’s a good thing. So you choose poison.”
The Lightning, attempting to win the Stanley Cup for the third straight year, await the winner of the best-of-7 series between the Hurricanes and Rangers. Carolina can advance with a win in Game 6 in New York on Saturday.
Video: TOR@TBL, Sp6: Point forces game 7 in overtime
The Tampa Bay forwards Brayden Point (lower body) and Brandon Hagel (Recovery) did not participate in training. The Lightning had no immediate information about the status of the two players. Point has not practiced since his injury in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference first round against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Assistant Jeff Halpern said the coaches were looking ahead to the 2020 championship, which came after a four-month hiatus between the regular season and the Stanley Cup Playoffs due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’re trying to draw from past experiences, particularly the COVID camp,” Halpern said. “It feels a bit like you only have a week. I don’t know if there’s really a recipe for it.”
“I know before this camp we spoke to some junior teams who were taking time off before the Memorial Cup and how they did it.”
But on Thursday it was just important to get on the ice and skate together again.
“It sure is hard to get the intensity of playoff games,” Halpern said. “In the friendlies we have a large number of players and that brings our guys together on the ice. That’s probably the most important thing.”
Video: TBL@FLA, Sp2: Perry cleans up Stamkos’ template in the PP
Stamkos and defenders Victor Hedman are the two players left from last time, when the Lightning had a long break between two series. In 2011, they had completed a four-game sweep against the Washington Capitals on May 4 and only started the Eastern Conference Finals against the Boston Bruins on May 14. Tampa Bay won Game 1 but lost the series in seven games.
“It’s always the same,” Stamkos said. “You can only do so many drills in training and then throw in a little scrimmage. You don’t really expect that much free time at this time of year.”
Halpern said the Lightning will ramp up the intensity as the start of the next round gets closer.
“Obviously the intensity of our training will increase as we get closer to our first game,” he said. “But I think it’s good if you have seven or nine days between games to train on the ice.”
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