Before attrition sets in, beginning to work against teams taxed well into spring, accumulated know-how specific to the Stanley Cup Playoffs is often the difference against an opponent still on its way up the ladder.
This is true for experienced entities missing their captain or starting goalie; or who played catch-up against the hottest team in hockey for the last five months; or were down to their last 70 seconds to score before being pushed to elimination for the first time in the postseason.
The Tampa Bay Lightning have tapped their own brand of resiliency - or as head coach Jon Cooper coined it, their "quiet calm" - to overcome all of the above, all over again, Sunday night.
"The more times you get put in these situations and you're behind the wheel navigating what's going out there, the better you are to handle them, and I think our guys are doing a heck of a job handing all sorts of situations, whether it's injuries, being down, being up, just the list goes on," Cooper said.
"The guys have really matured as a group on how to win hockey games."
Tampa Bay's latest win, a come-from-behind triumph in Game 5 versus the Pittsburgh Penguins, moved them to within one more victory of returning to the Stanley Cup Final for a second straight season.
In a vacuum, though, it was just another obstacle overcome.
“We got hit was adversity a couple of times, but nothing really changed for us. We kept doing the right things, and were rewarded at the end,” said Anton Stralman, another player who missed postseason spells.
"I don't think we get hit by panic or anything like that."
The Penguins will have to share in the Lightning creed to avoid elimination when the puck drops Tuesday in Tampa Bay for Game 6.
