TAMPA -- Lightning coach Jon Cooper said he expects the same lineup as Game 5, meaning center Brayden Point will miss his fourth straight game of the Stanley Cup Final.
Point skated with the team again ahead of Sunday night's Game 6 in Tampa, with the Colorado Avalanche leading the series 3-2.
"It's extremely difficult for everyone involved because everyone cares so much. But there's no animosity or anything like that. They're just difficult conversations because everybody wants the same thing," said Cooper.
Point missed the Lightning's second- and third-round series victories with a lower body injury he suffered in Game 7 against the Toronto Maple Leafs on May 14. He returned in the Stanley Cup Final, playing the first two games in Denver. He picked up an assist in their Game 1 loss, but clearly didn't have the same explosive skating that's defined him with the Lightning. The team scratched him for the last three games, replacing him in the lineup with Riley Nash.
Cooper said it's been difficult for Point, who has the will to play but remains hindered by the injury.
"It's tricky because players are used to playing at a certain way. If they don't feel confident in playing at the caliber they're used to, it almost works against them," said Cooper. "So it's unfortunate because it's a severe injury, and at this time of the year, everybody's trying to get back into the lineup and just there are some things you can't do. When you can't do what you're used to doing, it's tough on a player."
The Lightning coach did leave open the possibility that Point, who has more playoff goals (30) than any other player in the last three postseasons, could return to the lineup for a potential Game 7 in Denver on Tuesday.
"He's still plugging along here and rehabbing and trying to get better. Who knows? If the series goes one more game, you never know. It's tough on these guys because they're such competitors," said Cooper.