Lightning find themselves in unfamiliar territory – on the brink of elimination from Stanley Cup playoffs

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The Tampa Bay Lightning will enter Game 6 against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday night in unfamiliar territory – on the brink of elimination in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The Lightning are the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions, having won during the coronavirus-impacted 2019-20 season against the Montreal Canadiens and then last year against the Dallas Stars. In that time, the Lightning only faced elimination in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the New York Islanders last year.

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Jack Campbell of the Maple Leafs makes a save against Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lightning during the first round of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs on May 10, 2022, in Toronto, Canada. (Kevin Sousa/NHLI via Getty Images)

Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper, who has been with the team since taking over for Guy Boucher in the middle of the 2012-23 season, acknowledged letting the Maple Leafs capitalize too many times on their own mistakes

"When I say we gave the game away, I’m saying we gave Toronto opportunities to capitalize, and to Toronto’s credit, they have capitalized on them," he said, via the Tampa Bay Times. "We’re getting burned by some of the things we’re doing instead of making them earn it the hard way – where they’re just beating us at our own game – and so that’s probably a little frustrating. Maybe in years past, other teams just haven’t capitalized when we’ve broken down, so it hasn’t felt like that."

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Ryan McDonagh of the Tampa Bay Lightning celebrates after scoring against the Maple Leafs