"Might as well put skirts on them" - Jon Cooper rants about Tampa's two disallowed goals due to goalie interference 

By ARJUN B

Modified May 01, 2024 13:01 GMT

Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jon Cooper didn't hold back after his team's 6-1 loss to the Florida Panthers in Game 5 on Monday night. The defeat ended the Lightning's season, with the Panthers winning the first-round series 4-1.

Two disallowed Tampa Bay goals due to goalie interference calls left Cooper fuming in his post-game press conference.

Early in the first period, a goal by Anthony Cirelli was waived off after a review determined that there was interference on Sergei Bobrovsky by Anthony Duclair. Later in the second period, another Tampa score was disallowed when Mikhail Sergachev's shot went in after contact between Cirelli and Bobrovsky.

Cooper argued that neither play warranted overturning the goals based on the league's stated standard for goalie interference.

"The first one is on the board and I couldn't find anything remotely egregious about that," Jon Cooper said.

"It's really tough. Forsling is holding on, like, it’s a full penalty. He’s holding on to Duclair so he's trying to yank, he's trying to get his balance. It really affects nothing."

On the second disallowed goal, Cooper accused Bobrovsky of embellishing the contact to fool the officials into making the call.

“Then, the next one is a net front battle and I will give the goalie credit. He quit on the play. He completely quit, didn't see it, didn't whatever and, then, flailed and there was maybe incidental contact at most," Jon Cooper fumed.

"He duped them and so be it but, now, we have to challenge it because they saw the reaction of the goaltender."

Cooper argued that if minor contact like what occurred is enough to disallow goals, the league might as well change the rules entirely.

"Are net front battles not allowed anymore? That's a part of everybody’s game, the boxing out that goes on there, it’s like prison rules in the playoffs but it's not prison rules for the goalie?" he said.

The Lightning coach closed his rant by implying the current interference standards are coddling goalies.

"Like the second something happens, we might as well put skirts on them then if that's how that's gonna be... I think we're letting the goalies off the hook," Cooper said.

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Jon Cooper’s Lightning lose 6-1 to the Florida Panthers

The lone goal for Tampa Bay came from Victor Hedman, while goaltender Andrei Vasilevsky stopped 33 shots and allowed six goals.

Sergei Bobrovsky saved 31 shots for the Panthers. Aleksander Barkov and Carter Verhaege led the Florida offense, each scoring two goals and adding an assist. Niko Mikkola, Evan Rodrigues and Matthew Tkachuk also contributed with a goal each.

With the victory, the Panthers won their first playoff series against the Lightning franchise.