As satisfying as Game 3 win may have been, Lightning players know they must put it behind them ... fast.
By DAMIAN CRISTODERO
Published May 15, 2004
PHILADELPHIA - It is not often Lightning coach John Tortorella uses superlatives when discussing the play of his team.
There is always something that can be improved, always something to practice. Even after Thursday's resounding 4-1 victory over the Flyers in Game 3 of the East final, he said simply, "We found a way."
But after breaking down the video and with about 14 hours to think about it, Tortorella said Friday that in terms of preparation and execution, "In this series, it has to be at the top."
And who knows, defenseman Dan Boyle said, "When this is all said and done, we might look back and say Game 3 against the Flyers was what turned it around to get us over the hump."
Good stuff but it comes with a caveat.
"Now we have to move by that," Tortorella said. "As a series moves on game to game, it's a completely different type of situation."
It is a certainty of the playoffs that each game gets bigger and more emotional. The intensity that won Game 3, for example, likely will not be enough to win Game 4.
And Boyle said if the Lightning doesn't win Game 4 today at the Wachovia Center, Game 3, which gave Tampa Bay a two-games-to-one lead in the best-of-seven series, will, in a sense, be wasted.
"If we lose, we're right back to where we started," he said. "We have to win. We have to win (today)."
To do that, the Lightning must overcome the Flyers, who are expected to come out, well, flying, and the natural potential for letdown after an intense, emotional situation.
Game 3 arguably was one of Tampa Bay's greatest victories. Gigantic in the context of the series, played in hostile territory and full of raw nerves after the fights of Game 2 and sniping from the coaches, the Lightning responded like it had been there before.
The trick is to again muster that kind of response despite the extreme effort used to regain home-ice advantage and with the comfort of having Games 5 and 7 at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa.
"It's hard," Boyle said. "The stuff that was in the newspaper (between Tortorella and Flyers coach Ken Hitchcock) that got us fired up, you're not going to see that every day. It's got to come from the dressing room. There has to be motivation enough that we want to win."
"We've talked about it already," captain Dave Andreychuk said. "We didn't come here for a split. We came here to win two games. We've got one already. The only thing we're worried about is Game 4.
"We know they're going to be a lot better and their desperation will go to another level and we have to be ready for that. Hopefully we learned our lesson from Game 2, that this team has some veteran players who are going to play desperate."
The Lightning wasn't ready in Game 2, when the Flyers took the initiative from the opening faceoff and won 6-2. Tampa Bay players said they heard and read the doubters who believed Tampa Bay was overmatched against a bigger and speedy team.
"But with our team, the last couple of years, every time we look at it and say, "We're in big trouble,' we find a way to bounce back," associate coach Craig Ramsay said. "We have so much confidence in this team and they seem to have so much confidence in themselves to dig down and find something."
For the Flyers, Game 3 was about things that were lacking.
The power play, leading the playoffs at one point, was 0-for-5 and is 1-for-16 in the series. Jeremy Roenick, Tony Amonte and Simon Gagne have just one assist each in three games.
"You have to go out and create your own luck," Roenick said. "Unless you go out there and play the way you're supposed to, it's not going to come."
The way it came for Tampa Bay in Game 3.
"That's the way you grow as a team, with those wins," Boyle said. "By definition this isn't a must-win for us, but we have to grab hold of this series."
