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Pridružen/-a: 05.07. 2018, 10:24
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 Objavljeno: 10 Okt 2018 09:42 Naslov sporočila: The Cowboys had |
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Jon Cooper is confident the Tampa Bay Lightning will be fine.
Experience tells the coach and his players they shouldn’t be overly concerned about losing the opening game of the Eastern Conference finals at home.
The way the Washington Capitals are playing Vladimir Tarasenko Jersey , though, it could be more difficult to rebound from a shabby performance this time.
Game 2 is Sunday night, and Cooper expects the Atlantic Division winners to be at their best.
”It’s unfortunate how we played a couple of these Game 1s in the last couple of rounds, (and) dug ourselves a small hole this series,” the coach said after a workout Saturday at the team’s suburban practice facility.
”I guess the positive side is we’ve been here before, so we’ve seen this. But we can’t keep playing with fire and dropping these Game 1s, which we’ve done. All of a sudden you’ve thrown home ice advantage back at them. Now you’ve put pressure on yourself. You got to go win games on the road, which you have to do anyway in the playoffs, but your margin for error gets smaller and smaller. We’re really going to need a good effort (Sunday).”
The Capitals won the opener 4-2, ending an eight-game playoff losing skid to Tampa Bay dating to the 2003 postseason.
Alex Ovechkin, T.J. Oshie, Jay Beagle and Lars Eller scored for Washington, while rejuvenated goaltender Braden Holtby stopped 19 shots to help the Caps improve to 6-1 on the road this postseason.
The Lightning didn’t take solace in breaking through for a pair of third-period goals.
”We dissected the game a little bit,” Cooper said. ”There were so many good things we’ve done in two rounds of hockey that I think if you bottled up all the bad things in those first 10 games it would be about half of what we did in that one game last night.
”You fueled the fire of a good team, and that’s what Washington is. I thought a lot of their opportunities we just handed to them, and a lot of our opportunities were stomped out just by our not sticking to our plan of what’s worked.”
The Capitals Authentic Martin Fehervary Jersey , in the conference finals for the first time in the Ovechkin era, said they can’t afford a drop-off in performance.
Beating two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh gave them momentum heading into the series.
Coach Barry Trotz, mindful that Tampa Bay lost Game 1 of its second-round series 6-2 to Boston only to strom back and win four straight games, reiterated it won’t be easy to build off the Caps’ success in the opener.
”You get a little bit of confidence, obviously,” Trotz said at the team hotel Saturday. ”At the same time we’ve got to realize Tampa Bay is going to have some desperation in their game. And, we better have some desperation in our game.”
Andrei Vasilevskiy, Tampa Bay’s All-Star goaltender, yielded four goals on 25 shots in two periods after entering the series with an 8-2 record, 2.20 goals-against average and .927 save percentage through two rounds.
The Lightning are confident they’ll play better in front of him in Game 2. The Caps expect the goaltender to bounce back, too.
”One thing you got to remember, this is not the NCAA basketball tournament, it’s not one and done,” Cooper said. ”It’s the best of seven, so you get a chance to make some adjustments to improve your game and really get a look at the other team. … It’s hard to play flawless hockey all the way through.”
The Caps don’t expect the Lightning to panic, either.
”Obviously Logan Cooke Color Rush Jersey , it doesn’t matter what we did in Game 1 when it comes to Game 2,” Beagle said.
”I would imagine there will be a really good push back from a really good hockey team. We’re going to have to stay focused, not get ahead of ourselves,” Oshie concluded. ”I can’t imagine we’re going to see the same Tampa team we saw in the first period the rest of this series.”
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Sean Lee responded with strong words to criticism from former teammate Dez Bryant.
Tyrone Crawford felt compelled to tell the team these Dallas Cowboys won’t be in the business of dramas such as Bryant’s Twitter-fed rant early in training camp over who he felt was responsible for his offseason release.
With tight end Jason Witten’s sudden retirement after 15 years for a TV job, the Cowboys can’t defer to the franchise leader in games, starts and catches on any number of topics. Crawford, a defensive lineman, doesn’t think they can replace the 2012 NFL Man of the Year either.
”If you’re being real with yourself, Jason Witten’s one of the best ever to do it,” Crawford said. ”And if you knew him as a man, one of the best men you’ll ever get to meet. To me, there’s never going to be another Jason Witten that’s going to be around me.”
Still, the Cowboys have to figure out life without Witten’s leadership. Ask around, the answers will vary.
Quarterback Dak Prescott is a natural choice, both through leadership skills he demonstrated before replacing Tony Romo and the fact that the 25-year-old is already going into this third season as the starter.
Lee, now Dallas’ only offensive or defensive player in his 30s (he’s 31) C.J. Uzomah Jersey , always used to wait until the end of the week to address reporters in the locker room during the season. There’s talk of him moving that up to be more visible, and the 2016 All-Pro has left no doubt he knows things are different without Witten.
Center Travis Frederick and Zack Martin, who just signed a contract making him the highest-paid guard in the NFL, come up as well. But Frederick stops short of the idea of leadership by committee.
”Committee makes it sound like it’s a huge group of guys,” said Frederick, who started all 80 games in his first five seasons. ”Traditionally in a team like this, you have a group of captains that are a strong group of leaders, maybe five, six guys. I think you’re going to find that here.
”But there’s been a lot of guys in training. I think that Dak is one of the guys that’s most naturally a leader that I’ve ever been around in my life.”
Bryant shockingly called Lee a “snake” on Twitter while suggesting the ninth-year linebacker had a hand in the club’s decision to move on from its career leader in touchdown receptions.
Equally shocking was Lee’s response, acknowledging that he and Bryant had been at odds over Lee’s feeling that Bryant wasn’t always accountable. Lee even suggested Bryant still wasn’t holding himself accountable. It was the first time Lee had been forced to defend himself on such terms, and he left no doubt how he felt.
”I’ve been in a leadership role for a long time now and I need to take it to that next level,” Lee said. ”But there’s also, we have a core group of guys. We have a lot of guys where it’s easy to be a leader on this football team because of how many great leaders we have, all the way through, from the top to bottom.”
Crawford, a seventh-year player who has been growing into a leadership role over several seasons Adam Larsson Jersey , wasn’t happy that the team found itself in the middle of an unexpected tiff.
”When it comes to things like that and getting focused, I get angry and I say what I want to say and that’s what it is,” Crawford said. ”I feel like I need to say the right things at the right time and I do and that’s it.”
When Prescott became the starter because of a preseason back injury sustained by Romo two years ago, he spent half that season repeating that it was Romo’s team. Somewhere in the middle of an 11-game winning streak, though, the conversation changed. The qualities to lead were already there.
”It’s just about finding new ways to lead and it’s going to continue to evolve each and every year – every year that I get more experience and I get older,” Prescott said. ”New ways I can come in contact with my teammates, motivate them or do whatever I have to do to get the best out of them.”
Asked specifically about what Witten’s departure meant for Lee’s leadership role, coach Jason Garrett almost cut off the question.
”Witt was the guy who was out in front, the most veteran guy, incredibly well-respected guy,” Garrett said. ”But all these guys have been grasping that mantle for a long time. There’s no one guy that can lead as a player. It just doesn’t happen that way. You have to have it throughout your team.”
The Cowboys had some tangible proof during the first week of training camp.
NOTES: Dallas placed rookie WR Cedrick Wilson, a sixth-round pick, on injured reserve with a shoulder injury and signed rookie Ricky Jeune out of Georgia Tech.
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