Tag: Jon Cooper

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Jon Cooper annoys Leafs with post Game 5 statement

Press conference, via Twitter

Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper addressed the media after his team’s 4-2 win over Toronto in Game 5 of their first round series late on Thursday, and once again, he found the right words to get Maple Leafs and their fans going…

While Cooper explained how his players learned from their collapses against Toronto in Games 3 and 4, he added something that the Maple Leafs want nothing to do with : come back to Canada for an ultimate Game 7

“Let’s be honest. This game is so damn fun. You have two teams going at it. There are so many storylines. There are stars here.

Seriously, wouldn’t you guys have pissed off if this ended tonight? Let’s all be back here for Game 7.”

The Leafs, who have failed to advance in the post-season since 2004 and were eliminated by the Lightning in seven games last year. Toronto is now 0-10 since 2018 with a chance to eliminate an opponent.

Before Game 7 mentioned by Cooper who would love to return to Toronto for it, there will be a Game 6 on Saturday in Tampa where the Bolts need to stay alive.

We will see then if the Maple Leafs can improve that record or if Cooper was right about having some more fun in Toronto for Game 7.

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Lightning announce status of Erik Cernak for Game 6

Yardbarker

The Tampa Bay Lightning have been without the services of Erik Cernak since Game 1 of their Round 1 Stanley Cup Playoffs series against the Toronto Maple Leafs. He was injured after a dirty elbow to the head from Leafs forward Michael Bunting, who was suspended for the subsequent three games. 

And according to head coach Jon Cooper, the Lightning will have to make do without him for tomorrow night’s Game 6 at Amalie Arena. 

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Tampa Bay’s Jon Cooper takes shot at Detroit’s Derek Lalonde

AP News

The Tampa Bay Lightning are on the ropes in their Round 1 Stanley Cup Playoffs series against the Toronto Maple Leafs, having lost two straight games on home ice in overtime, in which both of them they held the lead. Former Conn Smythe Trophy winning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy has been extremely human in the postseason, sporting a completely uncharacteristic 4.33 goals against average and .856 save percentage.

One particular figure who is no longer with the organization but knows Vasilevskiy well is current Detroit Red Wings bench boss Derek Lalonde, who served as an assistant with the Lightning for four years and helped them to consecutive Stanley Cup titles. Lalonde is currently serving as an analyst on Sportsnet for the 2023 postseason, and had this to say about the Russian goaltender’s struggles: 

“We had done a study back in the day,” Lalonde explained, that revealed he is “one of the lower percentage goalies in finding pucks from the point. So we actually changed our entire D-zone and improved our pass rush.”

The Leafs have taken advantage of beating Vasilevskiy from the point in this series, including Morgan Rielly’s overtime winner in Game 3 that was fired from barely inside the blue line. But Cooper apparently wasn’t pleased with his former assistant’s assertion, and pushed back on it with the implication that it’s just something he made up.

“I heard about it. Listen, Sportsnet is paying him well to go give an opinion, so he has to make something up about that kind of stuff,” Cooper said. 

“We are playing, so we can’t watch what is going on. He is there because he was an assistant coach on this team. He is trying to offer insight and give the fans something. He should be doing that. It’s just making sure it’s accurate in what he is saying.”

It sounds like Cooper wasn’t very receptive to Lalonde’s view! We’ll see if Cooper, Vasilevskiy and the rest of the Lightning can stave off elimination when they take on the Leafs tomorrow night from Scotiabank Arena. 

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Jon Cooper drops popular song title when describing Tampa’s mindset

NHL.com

The Tampa Bay Lightning have been in this situation before, and they’ve found ways to overcome it. 

Right now, they trail their Round 1 Stanley Cup Playoffs series against the rival Toronto Maple Leafs two games to one after losing a heartbreaking overtime affair in Game 3 Saturday night that was highlighted by a wild brawl in the 3rd period coupled with Ryan O’Reilly’s game-tying goal with just over a minute left in regulation. 

But instead of getting down on themselves for blowing an opportunity to gain the upper hand in the series, the Lightning instead are going about their business with the usual swagger that’s helped them advance to the Stanley Cup Final three years in a row. 

According to head coach Jon Cooper, his team will be out for revenge in tonight’s Game 4 with a particular mindset taken from the popular song.

“There was more anger than, like, depression,” Cooper said of his team’s mindset after the loss. “There was no, like, ‘I can’t believe we lost that.’ They have a little eye of the tiger going in them now.”

The Lightning controlled the play for most of Saturday night, but still came up short on the scoreboard. Cooper explained that the Bolts simply need to maintain their compete level while also being “a little bit better”. 

“I thought we played hard, we competed hard,” Cooper said. “When you do that, usually good things happen. We were skating. We’re being pretty physical. We were on top of things. It’s hard. Toronto’s got a good team. So you have to take advantage of the chances when you get them. 

“But, at the end, it just wasn’t quite enough. But our compete was really high in the game. So we have to make sure we do that again, because as you saw it wasn’t quite good enough. So we have to be a little bit better.”

Game 4 begins tonight at 7:30 PM from Amalie Arena in Tampa Bay, Florida. 

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Jon Cooper furious over disallowed goal in Game 3.

The Tampa Bay Lightning are furious heading into the second intermission, this in spite of the fact that they currently boast a 3-2 lead over the Toronto Maple Leafs after 40 minutes of play.

Lightning head coach Jon Cooper nearly blew a gasket on the Lightning bench after a mistake from the National Hockey League’s officials cost his team what would otherwise have been a sure goal.

In fact it appeared as though Lightning forward Brayden Point had scored a goal after Maple Leafs goaltender Ilya Samsonov lost sight of the puck, but one of the officials on the ice prematurely blew his whistle. This resulted in the play being blown dead prior to the puck crossing the goal line, and even upon review the officials were forced to deprive both Point and the Lightning of a goal.

This resulted in Cooper snapping on the bench, launching a tirade at the officials that had just cost his team so dearly.

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Jon Cooper fires back at Sheldon Keefe after Game 3.

Bruce Bennett/Getty

On Saturday, following the conclusion of Game 3 between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Tampa Bay Lightning, Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe made some highly publicized comments regarding the way the Lightning conducted themselves during a scrum that occurred off the back of a big hit. That hit, one that came courtesy of Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly, would send Lightning forward Brayden Point crashing awkwardly into the end boards with his head and shoulder absorbing the brunt of the impact.

Keefe accused the Lightning of “manipulating the officials” during the scrum, suggesting that the Lightning took liberties knowing full well that the officials would not put them in a 5 on 3 situation. The Maple Leafs head coach also accused the Lightning of “taking advantage of a situation” adding that “they just know… they’re not going to get another penalty.”

On Sunday, Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper was asked to respond to the comments made by his counterpart in this series, and Cooper flat out denied any knowledge of Keefe’s accusations. Not only did Cooper deny any manipulation, but he also suggested that it was his squad that should have had the man advantage.

“Manipulated the referees. Alright, I’m not sure what that means, but I would say this. When that hit happened, I think everybody watching at home and everybody in the building, including us, thought we were going on the power play,” argued Cooper.

The Lightning head coach would go a step further by suggesting that none of his players did anything, or would do anything, that would have jeopardized that potential power play for the Lightning.

“Our two best power-play players, I don’t think they would ever sit there and take themselves off a power play unless they thought something unjust happened. Auston Matthews doesn’t kill penalties. That actually worked against us, to be honest. Now, we ended up being shorthanded after that, but I don’t think anybody thought that was going to happen at the time, so I don’t know, that one’s a little different for me.”

It seems clear both coaches have drastically different perspectives regarding what transpired last night.

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Jon Cooper hints at a giant lineup change for Game 3.

Jamie Sabau/NHLI/Getty

The Tampa Bay Lightning and the Toronto Maple Leafs have played the first two games of their first round Stanley Cup playoff series and the outcomes of both games couldn’t have been more different.

In the first game the Maple Leafs looked lost as they were thoroughly dominated by the Lightning on the Leafs’ home ice, but the situation was completely reversed in Game 2 when the Leafs had arguably an even more dominant performance than that of the Lightning in Game 1.

Given how poorly his team faired in their second outing it should come as no surprise that Lightning head coach Jon Cooper will be looking to make adjustments ahead of Game 3 on Saturday night, but Cooper hinted at a potentially gigantic change to his lineup on Saturday.

Cooper indicated that we could see the return of massive Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman on the blue line tonight, although he did not confirm that officially instead listing Hedman as a gametime decision. More specifically, Cooper indicated that Hedman would take warmups with the Lightning tonight, something he did not do before Game 2, and that they would make their decision on his status at that point.

Additionally, Hedman was spotted on the ice with his teammates on Saturday and even participated in the drills, which to me is only more evidence of the fact that Hedman will likely make his return this evening.

The Maple Leafs manhandled the Lightning in Game 2 with the Lightning’s blue line severely depleted, and the Lightning will no doubt be hoping that they can temper the Leafs offensive onslaught with the return of Hedman on defense.

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Jon Cooper takes a shot at Mattews, Tavares and O’Reilly!

Press conference / Postgame

Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper is focused on the next game, because, as he put it when he addressed the media after his team’s 7-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 2 on Thursday, this is a seven-game series.

Maybe that’s why he targeted his message to the Maple Leafs’ superstars Auston Matthews, John Tavares and Ryan O’Reilly when asked on whether the challenge changed against a team lining up Matthews – Tavares – O’Reilly down the middle. Cooper quickly chirped back:

“How did it change? So how many centers deep are we? Let me ask you that. Give me Point, Cirelli, and Paul all day against anybody in the league.”

While Cooper did not blink with his answer, he might want to take a look at the stats sheet to see that there might be an exception. And it is Game 2. Point, Cirelli, and Paul ended the night with a single point, an assist collected by Point, and an overall rating of -5.

On Toronto’s side, Matthews put up two assists, O’Reilly had one and the captain collected the hat trick.

Want another shot at that question, Cooper?

Game 3 and 4 shift to Tampa Bay, starting with the tie-breaking on Saturday as the series is square at 1.

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Vasilevskiy refused to leave the net despite coach Cooper trying to pull him after 2nd period

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This was the answer the Toronto Maple Leafs needed to send to the Tampa Bay Lightning. And they were loud and clear in Game 2 of their first round series on Thursday night. Captain John Tavares completed the hat trick in a 7-2 victory to bounce back and even the series at 1 in a loud Scotiabank Arena.

However, Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy cannot blame the local fans for not hearing what his head coach Jon Cooper had to say. According to insider Chris Johnston, Cooper attempted to pull Vasilevskiy after two periods, however, the veteran goalie, who has played every second of Lightning post-season action since 2020, refused. He returned to the cage for the last frame and allowed seven goals on 37 shots.

Cooper did not appear offended to have his goalie refuted his suggestion to be replaced in between the pipes, crediting Vasilevskiy for his desire to be better.

“That’s why he’s the best in the world. He’s not coming out.”

However, during the second intermission, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman had a feeling Vasilevskiy would not want to be yanked, seeing that he has a reputation of not being happy with getting replaced in net.

Vasilevskiy might have need the fuel for Game 3, which takes place on Saturday in Tampa. To make things worse for the goalie, he could not count on defenseman Victor Hedman, who was out with undisclosed injury that forced him from Game 1 after one period, as well as blue liner Erik Cernak, who took a hit to the head from forward Michael Bunting that landed the Maple Leafs’ forward a three-game suspension.

Let’s see how Vasilevskiy and the Bolts respond this weekend in Florida.

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Injury report on Victor Hedman for Game 2

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In case you missed it in Game 1 of the opening round playoff series between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Toronto Maple Leafs, Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman left the game with a suspected lower body injury.

Lightning head coach Jon Cooper was pretty tight lipped on Hedman’s status following the game, but this morning he did announce that Hedman would take morning skate today and would be a game-time decision for today.

Needless to say that if Hedman can’t play this evening, it would be a HUGE advantage for the hometown Leafs.