Cooper, Lightning lament ‘unfair’ overturned goals
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Greg Wyshynski, ESPN
Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper was highly critical of two goalie interference calls that went against his team in its Game 5 loss to the Florida Panthers, which eliminated the Lightning from the Stanley Cup playoffs on Monday night.
“This is clearly a turning point in the game. If anyone’s going to talk about this game, they’re going to talk about the goals that were taken away,” Cooper said after the 6-1 loss to Florida, a score inflated by two empty-net goals by the Panthers.
The first goalie interference review was a coach’s challenge initiated by Florida at 13 minutes of the first period. Video review determined that Tampa Bay’s Anthony Duclair impaired Florida goalie Sergei Bobrovsky‘s ability to play his position in the crease prior to Anthony Cirelli‘s goal.
Cooper felt that Panthers defenseman Gustav Forsling was holding Duclair on the play.
“You saw our reaction. It’s just one of those … it’s very frustrating,” Duclair said. “I always have a ref screaming in my ear. I thought I was out of the blue paint. When you look at the video, I was clearly out of there. It is what it is, it’s a judgment call.”
The second goalie interference play happened at 17:48 of the second period, as a goal was immediately waved off when the officials said Cirelli made incidental contact with Bobrovsky while battling defenseman Niko Mikkola. Tampa Bay challenged the call, but it was upheld on video review.
“Obviously, it sucks. But it’s our job to go out there and keep battling and trying to get the next one. When you think you have a goal and it goes the other way, you get down a little bit. But it doesn’t matter. You go out there and keep playing,” Cirelli said.
Cooper felt that Bobrovsky embellished on the play.
“I’ll give the goalie credit. He completely quit on the play. Didn’t see it, flailed and maybe there’s incidental contact at most. But now we have to challenge it because they saw the reaction from the goaltender,” Cooper said. “Bob’s doing the right thing. He duped them. So be it. But we have to make that challenge.”
Cooper felt the spirit of the goalie interference rule wasn’t violated by either play.
“In this league, goals are at a premium. All we’ve done is make the rules for more goal scoring. Every year it seems like there’s something that we tweak so there’s more goal scoring. That’s great. But there’s mandates. The words were to pull a goal off the board, it has to be unbelievably egregious. That’s the standard,” he said.
Cooper also felt that both plays were indicative of the officials overprotecting goaltenders during battles in front of the net.
“Are net-front battles not allowed anymore? That’s part of everybody’s game. The boxing out that goes there is like prison rules in the playoffs. But it’s not prison rules for the goalie? We might as well put skirts on them then, if that’s how it’s going to be,” he said. “They have to battle through stuff too. It’s a war down there. I think we’re letting the goalies off the hook. And they have way more pads on than everybody else does.”
Cooper reiterated that he didn’t believe the calls cost the Lightning the series, but that they did change the momentum in the game.
“This is just my opinion, I felt it was a little unfair. In the playoffs, how do you let those slide,” he asked.
The Panthers won the series 4-1 and advanced to face the winner of the Boston Bruins–Toronto Maple Leafs series. The Bruins hold a 3-1 lead in that series, potentially setting up a rematch of last season’s epic first-round upset by Florida in seven games.
For the Lightning, the loss begins a critical offseason for the franchise. That includes the future of 34-year-old star captain Steven Stamkos, who is an unrestricted free agent this summer. He had 40 goals in 79 games this season for Tampa Bay, his 16th with the franchise.
“That never crossed my mind. I’m out there trying to help my team win. Regardless, we’re trying to score. There’s a lot of pride on the line,” said Stamkos, who waited near the tunnel to the dressing room to greet every Lightning player as they left the ice after the game.
Cooper downplayed the fact that Stamkos might have played his last game with the Lightning.
“I don’t know if there will be much conversation. I hope not, anyway. He belongs here. We know it. He knows it,” the coach said. “He and I have grown up together. He’s a heck of a player. He’s in control of his own destiny. I don’t know what’s going to happen. He feels like a Bolt for life, but only he and [GM Julien BriseBois] can answer that one.”
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Alden Gonzalez
LOS ANGELES — Third baseman Max Muncy was diagnosed with a Grade 1 oblique strain and landed on the injured list Friday, a major blow to a Los Angeles Dodgers team that finds itself fading in the standings.
Muncy was originally a late scratch from Wednesday’s lineup after feeling soreness in his right side during pregame batting practice. The Dodgers’ hope was that sitting out for the finale from Angel Stadium, then getting extra rest during the Thursday off day, would allow Muncy to return for a critical series against the division-rival San Diego Padres, who have taken a one-game lead in the National League West.
But Muncy will miss this weekend’s series from Dodger Stadium, as well as the following series from San Diego’s Petco Park next weekend.
“I don’t think anyone expects it to be season-ending,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, “but hopefully it’s sooner than later.”
Roberts doesn’t believe the current oblique injury is as bad as the one that forced Muncy to miss about two months last year, but even in a best-case scenario, the Dodgers might be without their third baseman and left-handed power hitter until around mid-September.
Muncy got off to a bad start this year before turning it on in the middle of May, slashing .312/.438/.616 with 11 home runs in a stretch of 41 games. Muncy then injured his left knee during a scary collision at third base and wound up missing most of July. He returned Aug. 4, went 8-for-23 with four home runs over the course of eight games, and now he’s out again — at a time when the reigning World Series champs could really use some reinforcements.
The Dodgers held a nine-game lead in the NL West as of July 3 and have since gone 12-21 to fall a game back of a surging Padres team that arrived in L.A. on the heels of a five-game winning streak. As many as six high-leverage relievers reside on the Dodgers’ IL, though three of them — Michael Kopech, Kirby Yates and Tanner Scott — are nearing returns. The offense, meanwhile, has been mostly unproductive over the past six weeks, posting an 0.708 OPS that ranks 22nd in the major leagues.
During Muncy’s absence, the Dodgers will use Alex Freeland, a switch-hitting rookie who’s batting .176 in his first 12 games, and Buddy Kennedy, a right-handed-hitting journeyman with a career .193 batting average. Other potential reinforcements like Tommy Edman, Hyeseong Kim and Enrique Hernandez remain on the IL and aren’t close enough to a return.
“It’s certainly a tough loss,” Roberts said. “I think it’s just guys got to continue to perform to their abilities. It’s hard to kind of backfill Max, what he means, as far as the plate discipline, the slug, the on-base, all that stuff. I feel good about our lineup, the guys that we have, and they just have to go out there and take good at-bats. That’s all we can do right now.”
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