Jon Cooper benches trio of Lightning stars, explains why post-game
The Tampa Bay Lightning took on the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday afternoon and came away with their fourth consecutive loss, which has furthered the gap between Toronto and themselves for second in the Atlantic Division.
During the third period on Sunday, Lightning head coach Jon Cooper benched Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point, as well as captain Steven Stamkos and explained the reasoning behind the move after the game.
"Well, as coaches, you've got to put your team in the best position to win and 99% of the time, those guys give us the best chance to win when they're on the ice. It just felt, in the third period, they weren't giving us the best chance to win." Cooper said.
He went on to add, "We've got a lot of pride in this room and in our organization. It's not a situation where you're upset with guys or you feel differently about guys. You've got to come in here and go to work.
Like I said, those guys are the reason we have a standard that high. It's because of those guys. Just for a period tonight, that was it."
He went on to add, "We've got a lot of pride in this room and in our organization. It's not a situation where you're upset with guys or you feel differently about guys. You've got to come in here and go to work.
Like I said, those guys are the reason we have a standard that high. It's because of those guys. Just for a period tonight, that was it."
In those four straight losses, the Lightning have scored 11 goals, but have allowed 21. Defensively and in net, they have to be a lot better down the stretch, there's no question about it. The last time Tampa Bay has lost four straight was in early-April 2022.
The Lightning will have a quick turnaround as they face the Metropolitan Division-leading Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. ET.
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