Lightning look to even series vs. Penguins tonight

Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Final might not technically be a must-win scenario for the Tampa Bay Lightning.

But it’s as close as one can come without actually being one.

The Lightning trail two games to one in the best-of-seven series to see who advances out of the East to play in the Stanley Cup Final. After dropping Game 3 by a 4-2 margin and getting outplayed for large stretches of the game, the Bolts can’t afford to lose both games at home and fall into a 3-1 hole with Game 5 Sunday in Pittsburgh.

Of course, the Lightning have experience coming back from a 3-1 deficit against Pittsburgh having rallied to win three-straight games, including two in Pittsburgh, during a 2011 Eastern Conference Quarterfinal victory over the Penguins.

Still, the Lightning would like to avoid that scenario if they could by winning tonight at Amalie Arena and leveling the series at 2-2.

In order to make that happen, they’ll have to do a lot differently from Game 3, namely, keeping better possession of the puck. On Wednesday, Pittsburgh dominated puck possession and didn’t allow the Bolts much offensive zone time. When Tampa Bay did get in the zone, they were often one shot and done with the shot coming from outside of the prime scoring areas.

“We’re a puck possession team, and we don’t have the puck enough,” Lightning defenseman Matt Carle said. “We need to get back to playing our game and getting sustained offensive zone time. That’s only going to help us.”

Another area where the Bolts have struggled has …

continue reading in source lightning.nhl.com