Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper gave the impression that he wanted to avoid being fined when asked about a controversial disallowed goal from a 3-2 Game 3 loss to the Montreal Canadiens ... yet some sarcasm and bitterness couldn’t help but spill out.
His comments covered a range of moods:
Angry
Jon Cooper on disallowed goal: "I was pissed then and I'm pissed now."
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) April 21, 2014
Diplomatic
Jon Cooper: "He's a human being. I see it one way, he's sees it another."
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) April 21, 2014
Jon Cooper made a point of saying, "Please don't make this sound like sour grapes."
— Arpon Basu (@ArponBasu) April 21, 2014
Snarky
Jon Cooper: "We only scored three goals -- I mean two -- and they scored three."
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) April 21, 2014
Who knows?
Laudatory
Cooper on how team responded to disallowed goal: “I thought we played hard, we were determined, we played w/ passion...We responded unreal."
— Missy Zielinski (@Missy_Zielinski) April 21, 2014
Does Cooper have reason to be mad? Here’s the clip in question:
Naturally, Canadiens head coach Michel Therrien was fine with the call.
One thing that’s not subjective is that Montreal has Tampa Bay on the brink of elimination after Sunday’s 3-2 decision, even if Cooper & Co. probably feel slighted.