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 Verfasst am: 24.08.2018, 03:40 Titel:
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Jon Cooper searched for adequate words to describe the feeling of coming within one victory of playing for the Stanley Cup.
The Tampa Bay Lightning have done it twice in the past three years. And it hurts.
”It’s everything from agonizing to angry to disappointed to shock Adidas Leon Draisaitl Jersey ,” the coach said Thursday, less than 24 hours after one of the most successful seasons in franchise history came to a screeching halt with a 4-0 loss to Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference final.
”I’m sure that’s going to turn into proud and happy for our group,” he added. ”There are so many good emotions about coaching this team … but the emotions of how it ended is tough.”
After compiling the best record in the Eastern Conference during the regular season, eliminating the New Jersey Devils and Boston Bruins in the first two rounds of the playoffs, and rebounding from losing the first games of the conference final to take a 3-2 series lead, the Lightning truly believed this was their year.
Now, general manager Steve Yzerman and Cooper face decisions about what needs to be tweaked.
The Lightning won Game 7 of the conference final against the Rangers in 2015, advancing to the Stanley Cup Final for the second time in franchise history. They made it back to the East final, only to lose to the Pittsburgh Penguins in seven games two years ago.
”If anybody sits and says it was an unsuccessful season, I have to question that. You look back at this team. All the accomplishments of the regular season, and then to be one game away from getting to the Stanley Cup Final,” Cooper said, his voice trailing off.
”Now it’s just solving that piece of the puzzle,” the coach added, ”getting over the top.”
With a talented roster that’s both deep and fairly young, there won’t be wholesale changes.
Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy Adidas Brad Marchand Jersey , a Vezina Trophy finalist in his first full season as a starter, is just 23 years old.
Leading scorer Nikita Kucherov is 24, Norris Trophy finalist Victor Hedman is 27, and emerging star Brayden Point is just 22.
Even captain Steven Stamkos, completing his 10th NHL season, is only 28.
”What were we missing? A couple of goals in Game 7,” Cooper said. ”You can sit here and pick apart all you want of what went wrong, it was one game. We didn’t score and we lost the game. They were opportunistic and scored, and they advanced. … It’s razor-thin how close this league is.”
Yzerman said there are a number of areas where the Lightning need to get better moving forward, including defensively.
The GM, however, rejected the notion that somehow the season was a failure because a team with such high expectations didn’t get back to the championship round.
”It’s really difficult to win the Stanley Cup, and if you’re going to measure every year strictly on it’s a failure if we win or not, I don’t think I look at it that way,” Yzerman said.
”There’s a process and there’s no definitive timeline for it. Just continue to improve, continue to hang around Cardinals Josh Rosen Jersey , I guess, and we’re going to win one of these things,” the GM added. ”It’s not a failure. It’s a disappointment at this stage, but we’re not sitting here saying we’re the best team by a mile. We realize there’s a bunch of good teams out there, a group of teams that could win the Stanley Cup.”
Cooper said one thing it’s important to not do this summer is over-react.
”It’s hard to explain just how hard it is to get here,” the coach said. ”There are 30 teams who are going to get Monday morning quarterbacked, and one team that is not. You just have to build on your strengths and keep getting better and come back next year stronger than ever.”
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CLEVELAND — Another day, another roster move involving the Cleveland Indians‘ bullpen. Prior to their 6-3 win over the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday, the Indians placed reliever Evan Marshall on the 10-day disabled list with right elbow inflammation.
To replace Marshall on the roster, the Indians selected the contract of reliever George Kontos from Triple-A Columbus.
Wednesday afternoon at Progressive Field, the Indians and White Sox will play the final game of their three-game series.
Kontos, 33, started this season with Pittsburgh, for whom he made 21 relief appearances this year, going 2-3 with a 5.03 ERA and one save. He was designated for assignment on May 25 and was signed as a free agent by the Indians on May 25. In six appearances with Triple-A Columbus, Kontos pitched 7 2/3 scoreless innings http://www.raidersauthorizedshops.com/authentic-brandon-parker-jersey , allowing seven hits, with six strikeouts and no walks.
When he gets into a game Kontos will become the 17th different relief pitcher used by the Indians this season.
“With the new guys, we want to get them settled, and I want to familiarize myself with them as quickly as I can,” said Indians manager Terry Francona, who admits that it’s a challenge for newly-acquired pitchers to be comfortable.
Many of the relievers the Indians have used were released by other teams.
Francona says he is mindful of the pressure the new relievers face when they join the team.
“When guys are pitching for their baseball life, it’s harder on them,” Francona said. “When (closer) Cody Allen has a bad inning, he knows he’s going to be here the next day. The other guys, when they have a bad inning they know they might get sent down or designated for assignment. That makes it hard.”
Fortunately for Francona and those relievers, the Indians’ starting pitcher Wednesday usually makes it an easy day for the bullpen. Reigning Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber (10-3, 2.24 ERA) will be on the mound for Cleveland.
Kluber, however, is coming off his worst start of the season in his last outing, a 6-3 loss to Minnesota on Friday. Kluber lasted just five innings, giving up four runs on four hits Cheap Marcus Davenport Jersey , with three strikeouts and one walk.
That one walk was significant because it snapped a streak of six starts, 46 1/3 innings and 169 consecutive batters faced by Kluber without a walk. The four runs allowed by Kluber snapped his streak of 14 consecutive quality starts to begin the season, the longest such streak by an Indians pitcher in 100 years.
Kluber’s last start against the White Sox came on May 30 of this year, a 9-1 Cleveland victory in which Kluber got the win by pitching six scoreless innings on three hits, with 10 strikeouts and no walks. In 21 career appearances against the White Sox Kluber is 10-4 with a 3.05 ERA.
Kluber’s mound opponent on Wednesday was his mound opponent in that May 30 game between the two teams — Reynaldo Lopez (2-4, 3.26).
In that loss to Kluber, Lopez pitched 2 2/3 innings, giving up seven runs on eight hits with two strikeouts and one walk.
Lopez’s last start was a 4-3 White Sox loss to Detroit on Friday. Lopez, who did not figure in the decision, pitched six innings, allowing three runs on nine hits with three strikeouts and no walks. In two career starts against Cleveland, Lopez is 0-2 with an 8.31 ERA.
The Indians come into Wednesday’s game having won three in a row while the White Sox have lost six in a row.
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