Following their 3-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens, the Tampa Bay Lightning were a little more relaxed in their post-game interviews. Coach Jon Cooper in particular was in a good mood, especially when talking about the penalties and his reactions.
Jon Cooper
On Max Crozier – “He has that in his game. That’s why Cro is in the league. Not necessarily all those hits, but he has that in the game. He’s a big-time gamer.”
On shuffling the lines – “We’re getting mass production from one line, and not much from others … it wasn’t that we were doing things wrong, we just needed more of it.”
Max Crozier’s hit – “It’ll have a major effect if we do win the series. The timing of it was, you’re absolutely correct, because it did bring, it got our bench out of their seats. But, I think, you still have to take advantage of that.”
Hagel – “He’s definitely become the straw that stirs our drink … Even when we went down 2-0, his passion on the bench, and when he stood up and looked both ways and he captivated the bench with what he was saying and the message he was delivering. It’s one thing to say it, but there’s just guys, you know, they mean it. It’s coming from their heart, their soul.”
Managing his emotions with all of the penalties – “Yeah (chuckles). No. I think that’s one thing as a coach, when I first came into the league, I just wore everything. You wore every shift. … You have to remember as the coach, your job is to keep the guys under control. When you’re being affected, they feel it, and that’s something I’ve learned over time. … So if I’m going nuts, they’re going to go nuts. So somtimes I try to navigate my emotions to what I want our team to feel, but didn’t need to do that tonight because Hags took care of a lot of that.”
[You were able to keep it under control?]
“Is there footage of me going a little nuts? [Laughter] Okay, there was a coup…I didn’t, say, blackout, but I got frustrated a couple of times.”
Being down two goals – Long answer about the difference between being down 2-0 when you’re getting shelled and being down 2-0 when it seems like you’re the better team.
Did they “wake the bear” in Kucherov with the crosscheck – “It’s easy to say that now, there’s no question. I thought this was, if we talked about Point’s best game, I thought this was Kuch’s best game.”
Max Crozier
On if he saw an opportunity to make the big hit – “Oh, for sure. Yeah, head down, going through the middle. It was pretty easy to line up.”
He also rated it as “number one, for sure” in terms of hits in his career.
Yanni Gourde
Brief – Crozier’s hit was “amazing” and Guentzel’s goal gave them a little bit of “relief”.
Jake Guentzel and Brandon Hagel
Guentzel on Hagel – “He’s the hottest player in the league right now.” Hagel, “Thanks, Jake!”
Hagel on Guentzel’s goal – “I think that’s a massive goal for us. I think going into the third period, sometimes down two goals, could be a little bit dicey at times. To get one there, and the period ends, and you kind of take the crowd out of it right there. Then get to come onto the ice and just kind of build off that, that’s a massive goal.”
Guentzel – “There was no panic in our room and on our bench.”