Lightning banking on bad luck to explain Game 4 blowout
“How did you see it play out?”
Any time a coach answers a question with a question it’s squirmy. And it rarely ever happens when the query and the response are grounded in happy feelings and optimism.
As it was, Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jon Cooper was asked how he saw the second period of their 5-1 loss to the New York Rangers in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Final on Friday, where the Bolts gave up two late goals in backbreaking fashion.
Sarcastic and exasperated as the reponse was, he answered the question with a question, and then was questioned again.
“Maybe some tough luck?” responded Chris Johnston of Sportsnet.
“OK, I’ll start there: Maybe some tough luck,” said Cooper. “I’ll go beyond the second period. I thought for 45 minutes, we did everything but put the puck in the net. We had some really good looks. It’s tough to have a period like we did in the second period. Nine times out of 10, you’re coming out with the lead probably by multiple goals. Instead you come out of that, like you lose the period. It doesn’t happen very often.”
The line from the Lightning after the loss – evening the series at 2-2, and pushing the Lightning’s goals-against to 13 in the last three games – was that the effort was there but the bounces were not.
That was never more evident than the second period, when the Lightning outshot the Rangers 19-6, scored a goal to tie the game but saw New York score twice in less than two minutes to take a commanding 3-1 lead.
“Things like that are gonna happen. You have to expect the unexpected in the playoffs. I thought we took it to them. The chances were there. They just weren’t going in like they were in Games 2 and 3. Sometimes stuff like that happens. We still have to be better,” said captain Steven Stamkos. “It sucks that we lost. We’ll remember this feeling.”
The second goal of that Rangers rally was scored by Keith Yandle, off the leg of Tampa defenseman Victor Hedman.
“The third one I clearly remember. That’s going 10- feet wide. How often does that happen?” said Cooper, when asked about the team’s defensive coverage. “So I don’t know if that’s really our coverage, to be honest. I think they had some breaks, and you’ve got to give the Rangers credit, they made the best of them, and we didn’t make the best of ours. That’s plain and simple. But I’ll take our effort.”
The effort was there. The luck and bounces were not, unlike in the Lightning’s previous two wins.
“People are going to wake up in the morning and look at the box score and say, ‘Oh, wow, Tampa got waxed,’” said Cooper. “But I think if you were in the building, you probably wouldn’t see it that way.”
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