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Jon Cooper makes a rare admission after Canadiens' stunning comeback
The head coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Jon Cooper, surprised many during his postgame press conference after his game against the Montreal Canadiens.
The Tampa Bay Lightning won 5-4 in a shootout against the Montreal Canadiens, and Cooper let slip a rare comment last night after the game, live from Tampa Bay.
The Habs earned a point after a dramatic comeback, rallying from a 3-0 deficit and later trailing 4-1. Juraj Slafkovsky tied the game with 3.8 seconds remaining.
In his interview after the game, Cooper flat-out said that the best team over 65 minutes did not get the two points. That's significant, especially on a night when Tampa walks away with the win.
In the standings, Detroit leads with 49 points, Tampa follows with 47, and Montreal is right behind with 46.
Jon Cooper openly mentions that the Montreal Canadiens deserved the win
The Lightning coach added that he wasn't upset, because you have to "scrape" points together over an 82-game season.
It sounds like a moral victory being granted to Montreal, even if it doesn't change the scoresheet. And for a team just coming back from the Christmas break, it's still good for confidence.
Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jon Cooper yesterday on his team's shootout win vs the Habs:
"I think anybody that was watching this game knows that the better team that played 65 mins tonight didn't get the two points." - Via HabsOnReddit
"I think anybody that was watching this game knows that the better team that played 65 mins tonight didn't get the two points." - Via HabsOnReddit
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The numbers from the night support why he said that. Montreal outshot Tampa 36-22 and won 62.7% of the faceoffs. Jonas Johansson stopped 32 shots for Tampa, while Jacob Fowler made 18 saves.
In the shootout, Gage Goncalves and Brayden Point scored, and Johansson shut the door on Ivan Demidov and Cole Caufield.
Montreal didn't get the two points, but Cooper just gave a serious boost to the narrative.
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