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Squandered chance feels like Lightning's last (w/video)

 
NEW YORK, NY - MAY 24: Brenden Morrow #10 of the Tampa Bay Lightning checks Dominic Moore #28 of the New York Rangers in Game Five of the Eastern Conference Finals during the 2015 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Madison Square Garden on May 24, 2015 in New York City.  (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) 554342245
NEW YORK, NY - MAY 24: Brenden Morrow #10 of the Tampa Bay Lightning checks Dominic Moore #28 of the New York Rangers in Game Five of the Eastern Conference Finals during the 2015 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Madison Square Garden on May 24, 2015 in New York City. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) 554342245
Published May 27, 2015

TAMPA

Lightning coach Jon Cooper trudged off the team's charter plane on Monday afternoon, just off a hard-earned victory in New York the day before in the Eastern Conference final, and proclaimed he had no desire to get on a plane again soon.

No problem. All the Lightning had to do was wrap up the series with one more victory Tuesday night at Amalie Arena.

Big problem: Not only does Cooper have to get back on a plane after all, the Lightning's chances of getting to the Stanley Cup final have just hit some serious turbulence.

There will be a Game 7. Of course there will be a Game 7. What else did you expect?

In a series where there has been little momentum and even less logic, the Lightning's golden chance to close out the Rangers in its own building was kicked away in a frustrating 7-3 loss. It was a game much closer than the score suggested.

But the ultimate result — a loss — does suggest that the Lightning's inexperience on this big stage had something to do with its inability to close out a series that was there for the taking.

"It's tough," Lightning forward Ryan Callahan said. "You want to finish it out when you can. It's one of those ones you move past. You still got another opportunity. So we got to go the road and win on the road."

Good luck with that. Now comes the long plane ride back to New York and even longer odds to advance to the round where Lord Stanley's Cup will be waiting for the winner.

"Game 7 in Madison Square Garden," Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman said. "It's going to be a lot of fun."

Fun? Sounds like anything but.

Can Tampa Bay win a Game 7 in New York's Madison Square Garden on Friday? Sure, it's possible, especially during a postseason when the unexpected has become the norm.

"How are we going to respond?" Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "The same way we've responded all year when our backs against the wall."

Will the Lightning win Game 7? Don't get your hopes up. History is stacked heavily against Tampa Bay. The Rangers have never lost a Game 7 at home. Ever. They are 7-0.

You also get the vibe that the Lightning has let the Rangers hang around so long — too long — that it's all set up for the Rangers to sneak away with a series that, quite frankly, they have no business winning.

And that's kind of the rub of the whole thing. Hard as it is to believe — with the series tied 3-3 and the Lightning on the ugly end of two blowouts at home — Tampa Bay should be moving on right now. It's a series not as close as 3-3 would suggest.

While there are those who would debate this point, I think the Lightning has been the better team through six games. Much better. That includes Tuesday's Game 6, as crazy as that might sound. From the opening faceoff until early in the third period, when the game was still very much in doubt, the Lightning was the more dominant team.

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For more than a period, as the Lightning desperately tried to find the tying goal while trailing 2-1, Tampa Bay had more chances, more passion, more desperation. The only thing the Rangers had was goalie Henrik Lundqvist.

"We did everything we could, especially in the first two periods," Hedman said. "Lundqvist made some unbelievable saves."

Still, as the game wore on, you had the sense that it was only a matter of time before the Lightning would tie it up and somehow find a way to win either in regulation or overtime. Only when the Rangers, holding on for dear life for more than 20 minutes, finally tacked on a goal to make it 3-1 early in the third period did the wind finally come out of the Lightning's sails.

"Lessons learned," Cooper said, as the Lightning, in its desperation to tie the score, let the game slip away.

After that, it was mop-up time, a mess of a final 15 minutes for both teams with the winner already determined. Even still, the Lightning outshot the Rangers, 39-24, and that was indicative of the Lightning's control for much of the game.

"I thought for two periods," Callahan said, "we played really well."

It has played pretty well for six games, but you wouldn't know it based on where the Lightning presently sits. The prospects are now downright dire.

The easy thing now, of course, would be to dismiss the Lightning. The smart money says the Lightning will go to New York, play courageously and come up short. The best chance to win the series just slipped through its hockey gloves.

"We're not going to sit here and sulk and feel sorry for ourselves," Lightning captain Steven Stamkos said. "We have to go and win a game on the road to get to the Cup final."

But before they can do that, they have do something no one on the Lightning wanted to do: get on a plane back to New York. It's their punishment for not being able to close a series that was there for the taking.