- Jon Cooper didn’t hold back after the Lightning dropped their season opener 5-1 to the Rangers
- Tampa Bay managed six shots in the third period despite nearly seven minutes on the power play
- Read below for Cooper’s full quote, the goalie pull and the highlights video
Jon Cooper wasn’t in the mood to grade on a curve after Game 1.
Tampa Bay’s bench boss was asked about Thursday’s 5-1 loss to the Rangers at Madison Square Garden, and he went after his team’s effort, not the score.
“The disappointing thing for me is a coach, he understands you’re going to lose games, you’re going to win games, but it’s how you go about that,” Cooper said. “I just thought we had limited pushback, and that’s just not a staple of what’s gone on in this room. It was almost like the game was an inconvenience to play, got in the way of summer. That’s what was disappointing, just the lack of pushback. Take away the score, that’s not what I was worried about.”
Here’s the line that had everyone talking after the game:
His full postgame availability, along with John Carlson and Brandon Hagel, is up on the Lightning’s website.
New York’s penalty kill went 7-for-7 on the night. Tampa Bay generated just six shots on goal in the third period, even with almost seven minutes of power-play time.
Cooper tried to force the issue anyway. He pulled Andrei Vasilevskiy for a 6-on-4 with nearly 10 minutes left in regulation, then did it again later in the period.
Vince Mercogliano, who covers the Rangers, called it out in real time:
None of it worked. Igor Shesterkin sealed it by firing the puck into the empty net at 17:26 of the third, becoming the first goalie in Rangers history to score a goal.
Mika Zibanejad opened the scoring on the power play at 5:34 of the first. Pavel Dorofeyev added his first goal as a Ranger, and Eeli Tolvanen made it 3-0 early in the second when his feed banked in off Charle-Edouard D’Astous.
Nikita Kucherov got one back for the Lightning, but Gabe Perreault restored the three-goal lead before the second intermission.
Catch the highlights from the Garden:
Four straight first-round exits explain some of the edge in Cooper’s voice. Montreal knocked Tampa Bay out in Game 7 last spring, a long way from the back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2021 and 2022.
Saturday brings the first chance to respond, with the Capitals visiting Tampa.
