TAMPA, Fla. — It wasn’t the everyday post-game press convention Jon Cooper. The Lightning’s head coach took only one query.
After praising the NHL and his staff’s grit in battling to a third-straight Stanley Cup Final, Cooper was brief and emotional.
“This one’s going to sting rather more than others, simply because I believe it was taken—it was poten(tially)—I don’t know. It’s onerous for me—it may be onerous for me to talk,” he said.
Cooper implied that the Colorado Avalanche’s game-winning overtime goal should not have counted.
The goal came roughly 12 minutes through the overtime period. Avalanche center Nazem Kadri, playing in his first game since an injury during the Western Conference Final, snuck the puck past Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy. The win gives the Avalanche a commanding 3-1 game lead in the Stanley Cup Final and can win their first Stanley Cup since 2001 with a win at home on Friday night.
Cooper stopped short of explaining why he thought the goal wasn’t legal. However, he promised more details during a Thursday news conference.
Lightning Assistant Coach Derek Lalonde, however, was more direct in an interview with Bally Sports Sun’s Dave Randorf. He questioned an “attention-grabbing change” that happened before the Kadri goal and may have constituted a “Too Many Men on the Ice” penalty.
“It’s most likely not my spot, however it may get ugly,” Lalonde said, in part. “It’s a reasonably unhealthy look. Unfortunately, we’re on the unhealthy finish of it.”
A video shared by Bally Sports Sun exhibits Kadri go away the bench to get in place for the game-winning play earlier than his substitute, Nathan MacKinnon, enters the bench space.
According to the “Too Many Men” rule, “at the discretion of the on-ice officials, should a substituting player come onto the ice before his teammate is within the five foot (5’) limit of the players’ bench (and therefore clearly causing his team to have too many players on the ice), then a bench minor penalty may be assessed.”
The video appears to indicate that MacKinnon was past 5 toes when Kadri got here onto the ice.
“You’re going to see what I mean, when you see the winning goal,” Cooper mentioned earlier than abruptly ending his post-game news convention after the loss. “And my coronary heart breaks for the gamers, as a result of we most likely nonetheless must be taking part in.”
Kadri, in the meantime, dismissed Cooper’s feedback.
“I’m not quite sure what he really was, what he was thinking of why it shouldn’t have counted. That kind of confuses me a little bit,” mentioned Kadri, in keeping with ESPN. “The puck hit the back of the net, end of story, so not sure why he would say that.”
According to a press release launched by NHL Hockey Operations, as reported by NHL.com, the decision was not topic to video evaluate by both on-ice officers or Hockey Ops.
“A too many men on the ice penalty is a judgment call that can be made by any of the four on-ice officials,” the assertion mentioned. “Following the game, Hockey Operations met with the four officials as is their normal protocol. In discussing the winning goal, each of the four officials advised that they did not see a too many men on the ice situation on the play.”