Cooper and Stamkos offer their sentiments about the Leafs, prior to the start of their 7-game series
Following the Lightning's morning skate ahead of Game 1 tonight, Jon Cooper and Steven Stamkos were asked about the Leafs and how different they are expecting the series to be compared to last year.
Last spring, the Leafs fell to the Bolts in 7, but had two opportunities to close out the series. If it wasn't for a few mental errors and some terrible officiating (yes, we still haven't let that go) the Leafs would have finally won a series. The Leafs have been Tampa's toughest opponent during their three straight Cup Final appearances and Stamkos noted that in his response when asked about this year's Leaf team.
"They're an improved team from last year, and it went seven," said Stamkos, who's Lightning have struggled mightily since the trade deadline. The Lightning are not as deep as the Leafs are on the blueline or possibly up front since the additions of Ryan O'Reilly, Jake McCabe, Luke Schenn, Erik Gustafson, Noel Acciari and Sam Lafferty. The only place they appear to have an edge is between the pipes with Andrej Vasilevskiy, but even he has not looked like his usual self heading into Game 1.
Jon Cooper on the other hand, was asked about Sheldon Keefe and the job he has done with the Leafs. "I told him this at the end of the series. He shouldn't change anything. I think he's done a heck of a job with the team; I don't think they get enough credit for how well they play D," responded Cooper, who also mentioned that Keefe has taken a team with an offense-first mindset into a 200-foot group which is evidenced by the fact the Leafs were a top-five defensive team statistically this season.
