Jon Cooper disrespects Jack Campbell after the Leafs' netminder steals one in Tampa
It feels like pointing out the fact that Jack Campbell is heavily outplaying Andrei Vasilevskiy to this point in the series may be tempting fate. The fact is, though, that Soupy has been fantastic for the Leafs thus far in the series, especially in critical moments like the third period of Friday night's Game 3. Campbell is healthy and truly back to his early season form with a .924sv% on the series so far.
NHL coaches love to play mind games in the playoffs, trying to plant seeds of doubt in their opponent's heads. Jon Cooper is no different. When asked about Campbell and his play so far in the playoffs, Cooper elected to throw some shade at Soupy.
Cooper on Campbell following last night's 5-2 Leafs win in Tampa
Cooper conveniently left out Campbell's 24-save shutout in Game 1 and acted like the Lightning have been able to score at will in the series. Too bad for them they couldn't solve the Leafs netminder when it mattered in the dying minutes of Game 3. Perhaps Cooper should ask Steven Stamkos how he felt about Campbell's performance as he sat on one knee in disbelief after Campbell absolutely robbed him of the tying goal late in the third.
Now, we all know it's just Cooper trying to play mind games, but if he's trying this hard to cherry pick stats to make Campbell look bad, it means he's worried about it. Jack Campbell is working his way into the Lightning's heads. If this ploy doesn't work, maybe Cooper can try bringing a bowl of Lipton's chicken noodle soup to his next media availability. It would do him about as much good as his comments today will.
Hey, Coop - do you want a more realistic interpretation of the Leafs' netminder through 3 games? He shut you out once, and aside from your powerplay merchants going to work in Game 2, he's allowed just 4 goals at even strength the entire series. If you want to cherry pick stats, how about he fact that Soup has a 1.00 GAA across two Leafs wins in a 2-1 series lead. How do you like them apples?
| POLL | ||
MAI 7 | 525 ANSWERS Jon Cooper disrespects Jack Campbell after the Leafs' netminder steals one in Tampa What will Campbell's save percentage be when the series concludes? | ||
| .925% or better | 168 | 32 % |
| .920% - .924% | 199 | 37.9 % |
| .910% - .919% | 113 | 21.5 % |
| .909% or under | 45 | 8.6 % |
| List of polls | ||
