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Cooper: Penalty 'stupidity' cost Lightning in G1
TL;DR
Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jon Cooper criticized his team's 'stupidity' in committing penalties during a 4-3 overtime loss to the Montreal Canadiens in Game 1. Canadiens' Juraj Slafkovsky scored a hat trick, all on power plays resulting from Lightning penalties.
Key points
- Jon Cooper criticized Lightning's penalties as 'stupidity'
- Lightning lost 4-3 to Canadiens in overtime
- Juraj Slafkovsky scored a hat trick on power plays
Tampa Bay LightningMontreal CanadiensJon CooperJuraj Slafkovsky
Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jon Cooper said there was too much "stupidity" in the penalties his team committed during its 4-3 overtime loss to the visiting Montreal Canadiens in Game 1 on Sunday.
Canadiens winger Juraj Slafkovsky completed a hat trick just 1:22 into overtime to lift Montreal. All three of his goals were scored on the power play, during which the Canadiens went 3-for-5.
"I had a problem with us. We took four offensive-zone penalties. Just look at them. That's not overaggression; that was stupidity on a lot of them. That was on us," Cooper said after the loss.
That included a high-sticking penalty on winger Jake Guentzel with 21 seconds left in regulation, giving the Canadiens a power play that carried over into overtime, where Slafkovský ended it.
"That was a game that we just gave them an opportunity to win. This is the Stanley Cup playoffs. This is not Game No. 62. So, that was extremely disappointing in the way that we conducted ourselves and the amount of penalties that we took," Cooper said.
The Lightning went 2-for-5 on the power play in the loss.
Tampa Bay had the third-best penalty kill in the regular season (82.6%) but just the 15th-best penalty kill since February's Olympic break (79.8%). Star defenseman Victor Hedman, who contributes to the penalty kill, last played March 19 after taking a leave from the Lightning for personal reasons. He is back with the team and skating but did not play in Game 1.
Cooper said it was more about the number of penalties than the penalty kill failing to prevent goals.
"If you're going to kill penalties off at 50%, you're probably not going to last that long. But if you're killing penalties off at 50% when you only give up two [penalties], so it's 1-for-2, maybe you can survive. You can't let that happen. That's on us. No excuses," he said.
Cooper said he has seen the Lightning lose the first game in the playoffs and rally to win the series.
"That isn't as much a concern as how we lost it. If that's the way it's going to keep going, then this series isn't going to be as long as we thought," he said.
Game 2 is Tuesday in Tampa, Florida.
Q&A
What did Jon Cooper say about the penalties in Game 1?
Jon Cooper described the penalties as 'stupidity' and criticized his team for taking four offensive-zone penalties that contributed to their loss.
How did Juraj Slafkovsky perform in the game against the Lightning?
Juraj Slafkovsky scored a hat trick, with all three goals coming on power plays during the game.
What was the final score of the Lightning vs Canadiens Game 1?
The final score was 4-3 in favor of the Montreal Canadiens after overtime.
