TAMPA, Fla. — Jon Cooper’s answer was short and succinct.
“No,” the Tampa Bay coach said, when asked whether or not Brayden Point had any chance of playing Sunday in Game 3 of the conference finals against the Rangers.
The Lightning have been without Point, their leading scorer in the 2021 playoffs, since he suffered a lower-body injury in Game 7 of their opening-round series against the Maple Leafs. It was no issue during a four-game sweep of the Panthers in the second round. Against the Rangers, however, replacing Point has suddenly become an impossibility while the Lightning have fallen into a 2-0 hole.
Though Point has skated on his injured right leg, Cooper has said nothing to indicate he will be back anytime soon, saying instead that he would temper expectations for such a possibility.
Without Point, the Lightning have gone with 11 forwards and seven defensemen in the first two games against the Rangers. Cooper, late in Game 2, tried moving Steven Stamkos to center. The Lightning were getting completely outplayed in an eventual 3-2 loss, so he had to try something.
“We’re trying to find some answers last night, score some goals,” Cooper said Saturday. “When he went back in the middle, he did some good things for us. We’ll see how that bodes well for tomorrow if we continue to do that.”
Speaking with reporters just a few minutes after the flight home from New York, Cooper was up front about how little has worked for his team against the Rangers. Asked whether the Lightning had done enough to test Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin, he started to give a diplomatic answer, then decided there was little use in that.
“I would say this,” Cooper said. “If somebody’s asking me that question, you already know the answer and I know the answer. So we can go from there.”
Point’s absence can’t excuse how the Lightning played in the first two games, but there is little denying that it’s a significant factor.
“You’re not as deep,” Cooper said Friday night. “He’s, in my opinion, one of the best players in the league. And I don’t think I’m out of line saying that. There’s a reason he’s got the most goals in the playoffs over the last few years. He’s a big-game player and can help tilt the ice.”
“Obviously it sucks not having him right now,” Anthony Cirelli said Saturday. “At the end of the day, we gotta be better as a whole.”
Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said that former Lightning winger Barclay Goodrow has given the team a bit of insight on Tampa Bay, though his intel is limited.
“Honestly, do we pick his brain? A little bit, but there’s not a whole lot,” Gallant said. “Barclay played with a lot of those guys and he’s said, ‘You can get under this guy’s skin a little bit doing this.’ Little things like that.”
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