Jon Cooper, Tampa Bay Lightning Ahead of Leafs vs. Lightning on HNIC, Jon Cooper discussed the Leafs and Panthers\u2019 fall from grace in the Atlantic Division, the Lightning\u2019s consistency, and the addition of Corey Perry ahead of the playoffs. <\/p>\n
Is it a little bizarre to see the Panthers and the Leafs<\/a> at the bottom of the Atlantic Division?<\/p>\n Cooper: I\u2019ve gone through what the Panthers have gone through. Going to three straight finals is trying. It is tough. We were fortunate to continue to make the playoffs. They had some massive injuries. They\u2019ve made a run; let\u2019s be honest, their run has been pretty special. Sometimes the stars align for you, and sometimes, they don\u2019t. They didn\u2019t align for them this year.<\/p>\n As for the Leafs<\/a>, it\u2019s probably a little bit of the same thing. They don\u2019t have the fruits of their labour the way Florida does, so it is probably tougher to swallow for the Leafs<\/a> in a way. But when there is roster change, it can affect things.<\/p>\n I am not here every day, so I don\u2019t know. All I know is I haven\u2019t beaten the Leafs<\/a> in I-don\u2019t-know-how-long. I know we beat them (last week), but I wasn\u2019t on the bench. The Leafs<\/a> are always hard for me. Literally, I haven\u2019t beaten them in like a year and a half.<\/p>\n You are on your way to a ninth-straight playoff appearance. What has been the key to sustaining the success and never experiencing a true setback?<\/p>\n Cooper: We\u2019ve got a great core. We have the centermen, the D, and the goalie. But there has been a little infusion of young guys who have come in.<\/p>\n D\u2019Astous has come in and provided some big minutes when guys got hurt. I think there was development from Carlile, Crozier, and Lilleberg on the backend. These guys came in and really helped us win. Goncalves has taken a step. Dominic James is another one I don\u2019t think anyone was anticipating coming in.<\/p>\n A lot of credit has to go to Julien (Gauthier) and his staff for finding some of these younger players who have not only given us a bump but can play. They\u2019re all eager to play. That\u2019s helped.<\/p>\n And then you\u2019ve got a core group led by the Kucherovs, Points, Guentzels, Hedmans, Hagels, and Cirellis. They\u2019ve been themselves. It\u2019s really helped us.<\/p>\n What have you made of the Eastern Conference in general?<\/p>\n Cooper: That is why I don\u2019t read things. Someone wrote that the East is weak. It said, \u201cIt is wide open in a weak Eastern Conference.\u201d I couldn\u2019t believe it. I am not sure who is writing that stuff.<\/p>\n This is as tough a conference as I\u2019ve ever seen, and I\u2019ve been in this league for a while. For instance, when we played Columbus, Columbus beat us (in 2019), but I think we were a massive betting favourite. One through eight in the East, you won\u2019t see that. The teams are way too close.<\/p>\n This is anybody\u2019s game, this one. It felt like in the West, there was a little bit of an arms race yesterday. Some of the top dogs made themselves better. Eastern teams made some moves, but it seemed to be a little more of, \u201cWe like what we have, and we\u2019re going to go for it.\u201d<\/p>\n What is it like to see Corey Perry back in a Lightning sweater?<\/p>\n Cooper: I thought he just stopped by for a quick skate on his way to somewhere else, haha.<\/p>\n No, he was a big part of our runs. I don\u2019t think it is a coincidence that he has been to five finals in six years. That doesn\u2019t just happen. He is a catalyst for a lot of the runs he has been on.<\/p>\n He transcends time. It is amazing what he can do. I don\u2019t expect him to go in there and play 20 minutes a night, but I do feel we are a better team with him on our team.<\/p>\n I am really excited to have him back. It is much more than the stuff he does on the ice. It\u2019s on the bench. He sees things. He says things. You are always like, \u201cI wish I had thought of that.\u201d He is great.<\/p>\n Why do you think he has been able to stave off Father Time so far?<\/p>\n Cooper: There are a couple of things: One, he has the right mentality for it. Two, he took care of himself.<\/p>\n I am probably going to butcher this story, but I think he learned from Teemu Selanne when he was getting around his 30s. He learned all about stretching and looking after your body. There is an art to it. Between 19 and 28-29, players can get away with it. They don\u2019t have to worry about it; they feel untouchable. But if you want to really have longevity and extend your career, a lot goes into it.<\/p>\n He is constantly stretching. He is constantly doing things to look after himself. It allows him to play as long as he has. On the mental side of things, too, he is just built the right way.<\/p>\n After going 20-1-1, you\u2019ve lost four in a row. Can a little bit of adversity be a good thing before the playoffs come around?<\/p>\n Cooper: When we got swept by Columbus in 2019, people always asked me, \u201cWow, did that adversity in 2019 catapult you to a Cup in 2021?\u201d I don\u2019t know. You can debate that.<\/p>\n When you have adversity, it doesn\u2019t feel good. You don\u2019t want it. You say it: \u201cIt\u2019s great we went through that.\u201d No, it is never great to go through that.<\/p>\n Do we like losing four in a row? I don\u2019t. Who knows what is going to happen tonight? It is two teams going not the way we\u2019d like to.<\/p>\n It does teach you a little bit about your team and how they respond at times like this. That is what I am looking at.<\/p>\n But adversity is a funny word. I don\u2019t care what it is; you never want to face it. But when you do, how are the guys going to react? This will be interesting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jon Cooper, Tampa Bay Lightning Ahead of Leafs vs. Lightning on HNIC, Jon Cooper discussed the Leafs and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":521784,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":["post-521783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=521783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521783\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/521784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=521783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=521783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=521783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}