Tampa Bay head coach Jon Cooper complains about Kadri’s OT winner

Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper only took one question in his postgame press conference after the Avalanche’s dramatic OT win in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final.

Cooper, who was cryptic, apparently felt the Avalanche did something wrong on Nazem Kadri’s overtime goal. You can watch his full response below, in which he says he’ll talk more about it tomorrow:

“I'm gonna have to speak tomorrow… You’re gonna see what I mean when you see the winning goal. My heart breaks for the players because we probably should still be playing”

– An emotional Jon Cooper after only taking one question post-game. pic.twitter.com/1XHPHRwD5x

— Tim and Friends (@timandfriends) June 23, 2022

The Internet went to work to try to figure out what Cooper is so salty about, and apparently it’s because the Avalanche potentially had six men on the ice for Kadri’s goal. Here are a couple of photos:

Jon Cooper alluded to "too-many-men" on the ice for the Avs OT winner… thoughts? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/GPDBJCy9kQ

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) June 23, 2022

I thought Cooper was overreacting when I saw this quote but looking at the tape, he's right. Five Avs here, Byram in the d-zone, Colorado in control of the puck. Too many men for a solid few seconds. Legitimate gripe https://t.co/FFbffkTd2T pic.twitter.com/cNlAyor2c8

— Jeff Veillette (@JeffVeillette) June 23, 2022

To be honest, this feels like sour grapes. It’s clear the “sixth player” for the Avs is going off for a change and that happens all the time in hockey. It’s like holding in football, the refs could call it on every play if they wanted to. Cooper has won two straight Stanley Cups and seems to be gripping because his team is about to lose this one.

For his part, Kadri said he wasn’t really sure what Cooper was talking about.

Kadri on Cooper: “I’m not sure what he’s thinking on why it shouldn’t have counted. That confuses me. The puck hit the back of the net. End of story. Not sure why he would say that.”

— Jake Shapiro (@Shapalicious) June 23, 2022

The Avalanche dominated overtime, with four outstanding chances and two posts before Kadri broke through. Maybe Cooper should worry about that, rather than acting so bizarrely in his presser. If you have a beef, just say it.

Regardless, Colorado will look to win its first Stanley Cup since 2001 in Game 5 on Friday night in Denver. Cooper can think about it his entire flight back to the Mile High City if he wants, but nothing is going to change the outcome.

(Update: 11:31 p.m.) –

The NHL has released a statement saying the officials didn’t do anything wrong and didn’t see too many men on the ice.

Statement from the NHL on claims that the @Avalanche had too many men on the ice during Nazem Kadri's game-winning goal in Game 4: pic.twitter.com/r4JI8gTILt

— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) June 23, 2022

In my book, that’s case closed.

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