Cooper bemoans number of near misses in narrow Game 4 defeat
Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper believes his club's overtime loss to the Montreal Canadiens in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final came down to a matter of inches.
"Probably not hit as many posts as we hit," Cooper said postgame when asked what the Lightning could have done differently. "Puck's been going in for us, tonight they didn't. Did I think we generated enough chances to score? I did. They didn't go in. Sometimes that happens."
Tampa Bay struck iron multiple times on Monday night. The biggest chance was Nikita Kucherov's deflection attempt in the dying minutes of the third period with the game tied.
No way man
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) July 6, 2021
Kucherov deflected the shot perfectly and it goes off the post pic.twitter.com/DyJcCwvNKj
The Lightning controlled play throughout the contest. At five-on-five, the defending champs fired 60.98% of the shot attempts, 77.78% of high-danger chances, and 70.66% of expected goals, according to Natural Stat Trick.
However, Josh Anderson's heroics in overtime kept the Canadiens' season alive.
Game 5 is scheduled for Wednesday night at Amalie Arena.
HEADLINES
- Draisaitl proud of Oilers' maturity to start SCF: 'We're never going to quit'
- Draisaitl's 2 goals lift Oilers to comeback win in Cup Final opener
- Bettman: Talks on new CBA are 'in really good shape'
- NHL won't change income tax rules in next CBA
- 7 Oilers-Panthers questions that'll swing Stanley Cup rematch