Jon Cooper's comments seem to indicate that he expects his team to make quick work of the Leafs in Game 6
The Leafs choked away a golden opportunity to put the Tampa Bay Lightning away in Game 5 on Thursday night. There's no two ways around it. The game was a close one for much of the night and was never truly out of reach until the empty-netter was scored. In the end, the difference was a soft goal by Mikey Eyssimont and the Leafs failing to convert on a couple of really close opportunities in the Tampa zone, ringing one off the post, Mitch Marner missing on a breakaway, putting a couple pucks just wide of the open cage and failing to bat in the loose pucks around Andrei Vasilevskiy's crease.
The series between the Leafs and Lightning has been an entertaining one to say the least. There have been big goals, big hits, several fights and some exciting finishes. However, when Tampa's head coach, Jon Cooper, took to the microphone following his team's Game 5 victory to help prolong the series, he sort of put the cart before the horse and leaned towards ensuring that the Leafs and Lightning would be back in Toronto for a final and deciding Game 7.
Now, if I'm the Leafs, this is fuel. This is whiteboard material. We all know how good Andrei Vasilevskiy has been in elimination games in his career. We all know that Tampa has been to 3 Stanley Cup Finals in the last 3 years. But to just outright look past Game 6 and "meet back here for Game 7", if I'm the Leafs, I'm probably coming out with a real chip on my shoulder for Game 6.
| POLL | ||
AVRIL 29 | 248 ANSWERS Jon Cooper's comments seem to indicate that he expects his team to make quick work of the Leafs in Game 6 Do you think Jon Cooper is looking past the Leafs? | ||
| Yes, and it's a mistake | 148 | 59.7 % |
| No, it's just confidence | 94 | 37.9 % |
| Honestly, I want a Game 7 too! | 6 | 2.4 % |
| List of polls | ||
