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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 Gerald McCoy 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, a Vezina Trophy finalist in his first full season as a starter, is just 23 years old.

Leading scorer Nikita Kucherov is 24 Ty Sambrailo Jersey , 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, 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 Arik Armstead Jersey , 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.”

—

Patrick Mahomes II dropped back to pass during a recent Chiefs practice, and before the new quarterback even had time to set up, fearsome pass rusher Justin Houston was staring him in the eyes.

Without Mahomes turning his back, either.

The four-time Pro Bowl linebacker has primarily played on the right side during his career, which means he's been chasing quarterbacks down from their blind side. But his new position coach, Mike Smith, intends to line Houston up opposite the weakest player on an opponent's offensive line, and often that will mean facing the right tackle rather than the left.

"It doesn't matter what side. I want to be everywhere," Houston said this week. "The weakest link is where I want to be. Every team is different. Everybody has a different weak link. So whoever has the weakest link, wherever it is, that's where I want to be."

Just so long as it's on the field.

Houston spent a lot of time on the sideline the last few years as a career that once seemed destined for the Hall of Fame was slowed by injuries. He piled up 22 sacks in 2014, a half-sack shy of the single-season NFL record, and was rewarded with a $101 million, six-year contract that made him one of the highest-paid defensive players in the league.

But after playing well the first 11 games the following season, Houston hyperextended his knee in Week 12, and what seemed like a relatively benign injury had lasting ramifications.

He tried to return in the playoffs but was ineffective in a win over Houston and a divisional loss to New England. And that hyperextended knee turned out to reveal a "non-functioning" ligament Jim Otto Jersey , causing Houston to undergo serious knee surgery in February 2016.

He wound up missing the first nine games that season, and after appearing in a handful midway through the year, was shut down until the playoffs. The Chiefs had hoped Houston would be able to help them when it mattered, but he was again ineffective in a playoff loss to Pittsburgh.

Even last season, when Houston continually professed himself healthy, he never appeared to be going full speed. He was listed as questionable on the injury report twice because of his knee, and he finished the season with 9陆 sacks in 15 regular-season games.

It wasn't until training camp, a few weeks back, that he acknowledged "playing on one leg."

"When you have surgery, and the surgery I had on my knee, it takes time," Houston said. "As much as you want to be ready, it still takes time to get your pop back and get where you want to be. I think I'm there. I think I'm beyond there right now and it feels great to be back in that feeling."

His fellow linebackers have noticed, too.

"Justin, he's starting to really go back to that 22-sack guy, so we have an opportunity to be one of the best (pass-rushing groups) in the league," Dee Ford said. "People don't understand how bad his injury was and how he also tried to play, and he tried to come back too fast Fred Biletnikoff Jersey , and he's not an excuse guy and you got to really respect that."

One could argue that nobody is more crucial to the Chiefs' defense than Houston, given the way the defense has been overhauled. Longtime pass rusher Tamba Hali is gone, and Ford has dealt with his share of injuries, resulting in a precipitous drop in sacks the past couple of years.

Throw in the departure of playmaking cornerback Marcus Peters, who was traded to the Rams in a move designed to improve club morale, and the pressure is on Houston to, well, create some pressure.

"Would you love to have a million sacks? Yeah, I would love that. But the biggest thing is always affecting the quarterback," Chiefs defensive coordinator Bob Sutton said. "Obviously you can affect his timing. You don't have to sack him. But as long as you are moving him, and making him get off that spot a little bit, then you can affect him."

Houston should be able to help now that's moving around more.

Both on his knee and all over the field.

NOTES: OLs Cam Erving (knee) and Eric Fisher (shoulder) left Thursday's practice with "tweaks," Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. Mitchell Schwartz moved from RT to LT, Andrew Wylie took over at RT and Bryan Witzmann took over at LG. ... The Chiefs are off Friday before resuming camp on Saturday.

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