Lightning coach Jon Cooper came to Boston with a plan to steal back the home-ice advantage that the Bruins took away with their Game 1 win in Tampa.

Now he has bigger goals in mind.

”We can’t exhale [url=http://www.authenticsmiamidolphins.com/cheap-minkah-fitzpatrick-jersey]Minkah Fitzpatrick Color Rush Jersey[/url] ,” Cooper said on Thursday, a day after the Lightning beat Boston 4-1 to open a 2-1 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinals. ”Just because we picked one up on them, we want to make it where we have three chances to knock them out. When you have that chance, you can’t let it slide.”

Since winning the opener, the Bruins have lost two in a row. On Wednesday night, Ondrej Palat scored twice in the first 3:19 of the game to give the Lightning a lead it never relinquished.

”They outworked us last night, there’s no doubt about it,” Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said.

Game 4 is Friday night (7 p.m. EDT, NBCSN).

MIRROR IMAGE

Vegas and San Jose each have a home shutout and a road overtime win through four games of their second-round series. Now it has become a best-of-three for a spot in the Western Conference Final starting with Game 5 (10 p.m. EDT, NBCSN). The Sharks have turned things around completely from Game 1, when they were constantly a step behind the speedier Golden Knights in a 7-0 loss.

San Jose has done a much better job limiting Vegas’ chances since then.

”That 7-0 game was not really us out there [url=http://www.authenticschicagobears.com/cheap-anthony-miller-jersey]Anthony Miller Color Rush Jersey[/url] ,” forward Eric Fehr said. ”We changed a lot of things. We came out flat in that game. I think we’ve done a good job of reeling it in and playing the way we can play. That was a game we just threw in the garbage and turned the page.”

Now the Golden Knights will try to do the same after getting thoroughly outplayed in a 4-0 loss in Game 4.

”It’s a good series, there’s no easy night,” goalie Marc-Andre Fleury said. ”Nobody thought it was going to be an easy series either. We’re in good shape, 2-2, going home.”

SHUFFLING

Cassidy fiddled with his lines in practice on Thursday as he tried to find more offense for a team that seemed to have plenty of it in the first-round series against the Maple Leafs. With Brad Marchand and Jake DeBrusk sitting out of practice – Cassidy said he expects them to play on Friday night – Danton Heinen skated with Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak on the first line and Ryan Donato got time with David Krejci on the second.

After scoring 28 goals in seven games against Toronto and six in the Round 2 opener, Boston was held to a single goal each in back-to-back games.

”We’ll probably tinker,” Cassidy said. ”I’m not going to tell you who’s going in or who’s going out, because we’ve got to get the healthy guys sorted out first.”

ROOKIES IN THE BOOKS

Lightning forward Anthony Cirelli was the 23rd different rookie to score at least one goal in 56 NHL playoff games this year. That’s already more than in all of last year’s postseason. The NHL record is 38 in 1981, but over the past 30 years the most was 28, in 1990 and again in ’92.

Boston’s Jake DeBrusk has six this year, leading all rookies. Minnesota North Stars forward Dino Ciccarelli scored 14 goals in ’81 [url=http://www.authenticsbuffalobills.com/cheap-jeremy-kerley-jersey]Jeremy Kerley Color Rush Jersey[/url] , the rookie record for a postseason. Penguins forward Jake Guentzel scored 13 last year and matched Ciccarelli’s point total.

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AP Sports Writer Josh Dubow contributed to this story from San Jose, California.

Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant for months talked about his team’s hard work, ability to battle and their devotion to playing a full ”200 feet of hockey.”

In pockets of Game 2 in the Stanley Cup Final on Wednesday night, the Golden Knights were surprisingly outworked, outbattled and outhustled in losing 3-2 to the Washington Capitals. Game 3 is Saturday night in Washington and Vegas is going to need to up the energy level even further in a frantic series with scoring chances galore.

Vegas outshot the Capitals 39-26, but the hustle stats in Game 2 went to Washington, which handed the expansion club just its second home loss of the postseason. Washington had 18 blocked shots to eight for Vegas, helping goaltender Braden Holtby turn things around. He allowed five goals in the opener but was sublime in Game 2 as he made 37 saves – none bigger than stopping Alex Tuch with the paddle of his stick in a sprawling move with just 1:59 left.

Washington also showed its mettle on the penalty kill, limiting the Golden Knights to a single goal in four attempts – including a 5-on-3 on the third period.

”You’ve got to try and capitalize on those,” Vegas defenseman Luca Sbisa said. ”It’s just one of those games, even at the end [url=http://www.authenticsphiladelphiaeagles.com/cheap-richard-rodgers-jersey]Richard Rodgers Color Rush Jersey[/url] , with Tuchy having that chance. Most of times it goes in. It’s just one of those games.”

And while Washington outhit the Golden Knights, 46-39, it was some of Vegas’ bigger hits that ignited the Capitals in the second period.

Vegas defenseman Brayden McNabb hammered Washington’s first-line forward Evgeny Kuznetsov, sending him to the dressing room with a little more than five minutes left in the first period. He didn’t return.

Washington coach Barry Trotz didn’t provide an update on his star afterward, but said it was the key moment in the game for his team.

”It galvanized us as a group, I think it might be a turning point for us,” Trotz said.

With Kuznetsov out, Trotz added Nicklas Backstrom to his top line with Alex Ovechkin and Tom Wilson. And 5:38 into the second period, with the game tied at 1-all and the Capitals on a power play, Ovechkin scored his first career Stanley Cup Final goal to give the Capitals the lead.

”I think they got energy from that, I think they were pissed off [url=http://www.authenticsindianapoliscolts.com/cheap-braden-smith-jersey]Braden Smith Color Rush Jersey[/url] , that’s how sports go,” Vegas forward Erik Haula said. ”You see one of your best players go down and you’re pissed off, that’s part of it. It’s no excuse for us. Bottom line is we were right in that game I think, it was right there for us to grab, we just came short.”

Vegas unraveled and gave up more uncharacteristic chances in front of Marc-Andre Fleury, who has yet to lose consecutive games this postseason. The Golden Knights also had 12 turnovers compared to Washington’s four.

”We shot ourselves in the foot a few times with some turnovers,” Golden Knights defenseman Nate Schmidt said. ”At the end of the day you really have got to see where your game is at. If you look at it as a whole, we played really well for parts of the first period and we got caught up in the transition game in the second period – and that’s not the game we want to play.”

Instead, Washington fed off the momentum and dictated the tempo, and a little less than four minutes after Ovechkin scored, Brooks Orpik broke a 220-game goal drought with the eventual game winner. It was his first goal since Feb. 26 [url=http://www.ramsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-joseph-noteboom-jersey]http://www.ramsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-joseph-noteboom-jersey[/url] , 2016.

”I haven’t yelled that loud for someone to score a goal since Ovi scored one of his milestones,” Washington forward T.J. Oshie said.

Though the Golden Knights outshot Washington 15-6 in the third period, the Capitals skated faster, competed better, worked harder and played smarter to steal home-ice advantage with their first-ever Final win. The Capitals return to Capital One Arena, where they have just a 4-5 record in the postseason. Vegas is 6-2 on the road in the playoffs.

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