Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jon Cooper held a short and intense press conference Wednesday night after losing their Stanley Cup final game 4, during which he questioned the legitimacy of the Nazem Kadri goal of the Colorado Avalanche at extra time.
Cooper struggled for a minute with his love for the NHL and the team’s journey to the Stanley Cup championship before focusing on Kadri’s goal at 12:02 overtime, leading the Avalanche to a 3: 1 lead.
“It’s going to sting a lot more than the others, just because it started … it was potentially … I don’t know … it’s going to be hard for me. I’m going to have a hard time talking. I need to talk. I’ll talk to you tomorrow , “he said. “You see what I mean when you see the winning goal. And my heart breaks because of the players. Because we should probably play anyway.”
With that, Cooper apologized for a single question.
The post-game speculation was that Lightning thought Avalanche had six skaters on the ice before hitting the game. Some camera angles showed six Colorado skaters on the ice as Kadri collected the pass, skated the zone and defeated goalkeeper Andrei Vasilevski 3: 2.
The question was whether Nathan MacKinnon was close enough to the Avalanche bench to be considered a “retiree” when his teammate jumped on the ice and hit the game. Before making changes, skaters must be within a 5-foot radius of the bench and out of play.
“Too many men on the ice are sentenced by any of the four ice officials,” NHL Hockey Operations said in a statement. “After the game, Hockey Operations met with four officials as their usual protocol. During the discussion of the winning goal, all four officials said they did not see too many men on the ice.”
Too many men on the ice can’t be seen even when the gate is hit.
Incitement to conspiracy theories: The NHL distributed a scoreboard to the media with six skaters on Kadri’s winner’s Avalanche list, and then edited the chart to list five skaters online.
The NHL reported that extra player, defender Erik Johnson, could get into the original scoreboard because the players jumped off the bench after the Kadri goal was scored.
Kadri looked confused after the game.
“I’m not quite sure what he really was, what he thought, why it shouldn’t have been taken into account. It confuses me a bit,” said Kadri, who played in the first game of the series after passing his thumb. operation in the final of the Western Conference. “The counter hit the net, the end of the story, so it’s not sure why he said that.”
Cooper began his press conference by talking about the rapid start of his team before quickly realizing how difficult the Lightning Championship has been, while criticizing the NHL’s pay cap system.
“You know, I love this league. It’s the biggest league in the world. The people who run it are amazing. Everything about it. It’s like a dream come true for me, especially growing up as a Canadian boy and all that’s happened.” .
“You know, I’ve gotten some heartbreaking losses and losses for the teams that brought us out and been with a group that just fights, fights and fights. And they fought their way to the third consecutive Stanley Cup final. And in the hat age, if … if it It’s so damn hard and the rules are against you because it wants equality too. And I like it in the league. And that’s what makes it tougher. And just look at the team they’ve been through and the fight that’s been going on. together. Players, coaches, referees, everyone. “
Game 5 is on Friday night in Denver. The teams that lead the top seven in the table 3: 1 have an all-time record of 298: 31 (.906) in the series, including a 2: 1 (0.667) clip in 2022 and 35: 1 (0.972). ) sign in the Stanley Cup final.
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