Jon Cooper called out his team for a lack of toughness after the Tampa Bay Lightning allowed a pair of late first-period goals and dropped Game 1 of their second-round series against the New York Islanders on Wednesday night.
The Lightning head coach said the game was lost in the final two minutes of the opening frame, that his club was "too soft" during that stretch, and the breakdown was "inexcusable," according to Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times.
Islanders forward Shane Prince scored twice in a span of 2:29 to give New York a 3-1 lead before the intermission. Prince's second goal came with 2.1 seconds left in the period.
Related - Watch: Islanders' Prince strikes twice in less than 3 minutes
The Lightning rallied from a 4-1 deficit to cut the lead to one on Valtteri Filppula's goal with less than three minutes left in the third, but Cal Clutterbuck sealed it with an empty-netter.
