With their season presumably on the line without a tied 2-2 series, the Lightning laid it all out against the Avalanche (-105) in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final on Wednesday night. Tampa Bay scored a goal 36 seconds in and peppered Colorado netminder Darcy Kuemper with shots (37 saves) throughout the night.
It was apparent the two-time defending Cup champions came to play. Unfortunately, the officiating on the ice might not have brought their A-game.
After a scintillating and tense regulation period, Colorado’s Nazem Kadri scored a mystifying goal to give the Avalanche a 3-2 win and a 3-1 series lead. The hometown fans at Amalie Arena were stunned, as were the Lightning.
But did Kadri actually score a legal, back-breaking, game-winning goal?
According to Tampa Bay head coach Jon Cooper: No.
Jon Cooper only took one question and spoke for two-plus minutes. He says his "heart breaks for the players" because the winning goal shouldn't have counted but didn't elaborate on why.
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) June 23, 2022
“I'm gonna have to speak tomorrow… You’re gonna see what I mean when you see the winning goal. My heart breaks for the players because we probably should still be playing”
– An emotional Jon Cooper after only taking one question post-game. pic.twitter.com/1XHPHRwD5x
— Tim and Friends (@timandfriends) June 23, 2022
Huh? Jon, you can’t throw out accusations like that all willy-nilly without an explanation.
Does anyone have any thoughts on Cooper’s reference?
I “think” this is because the Lightning believe COL had too many men on the ice when the winning goal was scored https://t.co/lvhxGDcVuX
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) June 23, 2022
Oh. Oh, no. If true, that’s simply an officiating mishap that cannot happen at this stage of the season.
“Investigators” on Twitter took to clip-by-clip frames to see if they could back up Cooper’s claims. At first glance, the results were astounding.
