Lightning have no worries about ‘urgency’ facing elimination in Game 6

The Tampa Bay Lightning find themselves in rare territory Thursday night ahead of Game 5 (7:30 p.m. ET; TBS, CBC, Sportsnet, TVA Sports) against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Since their stunning sweep at the hands of the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2019, the Lightning have gone on to win eight straight playoff series and back-to-back Stanley Cups. Over that time they’ve faced elimination only once — Game 7 of the 2021 Stanley Cup Semifinals against the New York Islanders.

The Lightning would win that game 1-0, thanks to Yanni Gourde and Andrei Vasilevskiy. The good thing a year ago was that Tampa Bay needed only one win to advance. This season, in order to get past the Maple Leafs they’ll need to win consecutive games, something they’ve yet to do in their 2022 First Round series.

“We’ve been up 3-2, down 3-2,” said Lightning head coach Jon Cooper. “We’ve almost covered the landscape of series just because we’ve played in so many.

“We have a lot of positives we can draw on with this group. And we’ve shown in hostile environments against good teams, [we can win] on the road in these situations. Fortunately, we’re at home now again, but that doesn’t guarantee anything at all that you’re going to win. But I’d much rather play an elimination game at home than on the road.”

Tampa Bay had their opportunity in Game 5. They took a 2-0 lead within the first 6:11 of the game, but they let it slip away. Goals by Morgan Rielly and William Nylander 1:13 apart early in the third period gave Toronto the lead, and then Auston Matthews put them ahead for the final time 10 minutes later.

Season-on-the-line type of experiences aren’t common for this Lightning core. But that group understands what it takes to get through a series and move past