The NHL Stanley Cup race set a tough battle between the Florida Panthers and the Tampa Bay Lightning. The team led by star Matthew Tkachuk is 3-1 over the Jon Cooper’s side. The head coach of the Bolts sent a clear admission about the series against Brad Marchand and the rest of the Panthers.
The Battle of Florida delivered another intense chapter as the Panthers secured a 4-2 win in Game 4, putting the series one victory away from being sealed. On the Lightning’s side, they suffered a comeback loss at Amerant Bank Arena that night.
Marchand and Tkachuk have been active on the ice despite not making significant contributions to the stat sheet. The former Boston Bruins player joined the team ahead of the playoffs and brings valuable experience that the Panthers need in their push to win the league once again.
Cooper’s blunt admission on the Battle of Florida
“Is this series close? It’s really close. That’s what makes this Battle of Florida so much fun, because it is two extremely competitive teams that play a great brand of hockey. That’s why you get these tight games,” Cooper said at press conference about the series between Lightning and Panthers.
“Both teams had two spurts of 11 seconds that were really rewarding. Theirs came at the end. For 115 minutes, we passed every test possible. We just had a tough 11 seconds there at the end of the game. It’s unfortunate. We played well enough to win both games (on the road) and came up a little short,” Cooper said.
Cooper was in a bad mood after loss to Panthers
Cooper didn’t hide his frustration while answering reporters’ questions during the postgame press conference. The Lightning head coach showed clear irritation at one particular question. “Getting tiresome answering questions about a hit every single game,” he said.