GDT: 6/3/21 - 8:00PM EDT - #1CD Carolina vs #3CD Tampa Bay [CDF GAME 3]

[Zwui21]

Killorn - Point - Kucherov

Stamkos - Cirelli - Coleman

Colton - Gourde - Palat

Maroon - Johnson - Goodrow

 

[LightningStrikes]

Strong game by Cirelli. And Killorn is just money in the playoffs. OT loss stings but we had control of the game for the most part. Not worried yet.

Also, those tic tac toe passes on the PP. Beautiful!

 

[The Macho King]

Still got a point.

 

[Coopers Gum]

Did someone seriously say bench kucherov?

he has the most points in the league right now...

yeah, he played dumb last night, but you don’t bench your best player in the playoffs. Think about the decision here. Do you give your team more of a chance to win with kucherov benched or with kucherov playing?

 

[Hoek]

 

[These Are The Days]

You know Kuch. If you weren't so damn good sometimes I'd send you to the moon to be with Bobrovsky. Smarten the hell up.


Coop do something about this guy please

 

[LightningStrikes]

Did someone seriously say bench kucherov?

he has the most points in the league right now...

yeah, he played dumb last night, but you don’t bench your best player in the playoffs. Think about the decision here. Do you give your team more of a chance to win with kucherov benched or with kucherov playing?

Exactly. Kuch had the primary assist on both goals. -2 or not he’s our best (offensive) player period.

 

[UseYourHedman]

Exactly. Kuch had the primary assist on both goals. -2 or not he’s our best (offensive) player period.

He's often the best offensive player for the other team too which is what makes him so maddening.

 

[Hockey4Life91]

Anyone in favor of seeing Cooper swap Palat with Stamkos?

Yes, but with a big caveat: only do it once a period.

 

[DMB06]

Did someone seriously say bench kucherov?

he has the most points in the league right now...

yeah, he played dumb last night, but you don’t bench your best player in the playoffs. Think about the decision here. Do you give your team more of a chance to win with kucherov benched or with kucherov playing?

Yes, I did. And you're right, you don't bench your best player in the playoffs, you do it in games leading up to the playoffs (in prior seasons in this case) to send a message that his never ending temper tantrum penalties are unacceptable.

But we have a door mat as a coach, which is why discipline isn't something players have to worry about. If Cooper, at any point over the last several years, had sat Kuch's ass on the bench for a game his two penalties last night wouldn't have happened.

The response of "he's our best player" is EXACTLY why he does whatever the hell he wants, including costing us games at times. It's a situation Cooper created. It's called bad leadership.

 

[Hoek]

Cooper literally benched Kucherov for a stupid turnover that led directly to a breakaway goal last season.

Shit happens (like an uncharacteristically soft call for a playoff OT). Bad leadership would be panicking and throwing a tantrum during a critical moment by benching him now.

 

[Sky04]

Did someone seriously say bench kucherov?

he has the most points in the league right now...

yeah, he played dumb last night, but you don’t bench your best player in the playoffs. Think about the decision here. Do you give your team more of a chance to win with kucherov benched or with kucherov playing?

Benching him is stupid but you have to drill it in his head to not take stupid and lazy penalties, guy has a short temper and it's been costly more than once in the playoffs. The only time he really set that aside was last year.

 

[Sky04]

Cooper literally benched Kucherov for a stupid turnover that led directly to a breakaway goal last season.

Shit happens (like an uncharacteristically soft call for a playoff OT). Bad leadership would be panicking and throwing a tantrum during a critical moment by benching him now.

Can't really complain on that call when that cross check call to put us ahead happens 20 times a game, the hook on Coleman is the exact same call as one on Kucherov, you're clearly obstructing a player from playing the puck.

If you're going to take a penalty at least make it count, not on an offensive zone play with zero scoring threat. Kucherov has always been treading the line with antics, such a dumb weakness for a good player really.

 

[BowDownToVasilevskiy]

Anyone in favor of seeing Cooper swap Palat with Stamkos?

Stamkos has been having some good games on the second line but I wouldn't mind seeing that swap just to try it out

 

[Coopers Gum]

Yes, I did. And you're right, you don't bench your best player in the playoffs, you do it in games leading up to the playoffs (in prior seasons in this case) to send a message that his never ending temper tantrum penalties are unacceptable.

But we have a door mat as a coach, which is why discipline isn't something players have to worry about. If Cooper, at any point over the last several years, had sat Kuch's ass on the bench for a game his two penalties last night wouldn't have happened.

The response of "he's our best player" is EXACTLY why he does whatever the hell he wants, including costing us games at times. It's a situation Cooper created. It's called bad leadership.

He’s not a child learning to play. He’s a grown man. If this were happening every single game, I’d agree with you. I also agree that a regular season benching would have been much better.

 

[Hoek]

Can't really complain on that call when that cross check call to put us ahead happens 20 times a game, the hook on Coleman is the exact same call as one on Kucherov, you're clearly obstructing a player from playing the puck.

If you're going to take a penalty at least make it count, not on an offensive zone play with zero scoring threat. Kucherov has always been treading the line with antics, such a dumb weakness for a good player really.

I'm not really complaining, just that's probably something he's gotten away with plenty of times before and not the most egregious bench-worthy thing he's done.

 

[DistantThunderRep]

Are people seriously talking about benching Kuch? Are these people high?

 

[Peacefool]

Typical TB loss. Opponents new GK had best game in his life, we had 2 bad goals, first when Coleman moved to bench instead of battling for puck,and bad penalty by Kuch.
Forget this game,lets move on.

 

[Peacefool]

Also as much as Hedman is nearing his 100% It feels like Kuch is still hurt or at least on his 50%.

 

[Peacefool]

the only thing that concerns me is that we won almost all OT last year,and now we (even though we are better team at OT) we loss them

 

[DrMartinVanNostrand]

the only thing that concerns me is that we won almost all OT last year,and now we (even though we are better team at OT) we loss them

Well, 6-2 in OT games is hard to replicate. And it's not just last season; our OT record in general has been really, really good over the years. I'll use 2014 (once again) as the starting point, but we were 13-4 in overtime games (if I counted correctly) between 2014-'20. Even if you give a slight adjustment on the basis of "the better team should win more often than not in OT" for the Lightning, winning 76% of games in a "next goal wins" scenario is not a sustainable rate for any team. I can't really speak for Game 3 vs. Florida, I never had a chance to really see the OT in that game, but we were looking perfectly good last night until Kucherov took a dumb penalty, and that was that. And sometimes that's all it takes. Our last four OT losses all have a common theme around careless mistakes either defensively or getting yourself penalized in a harmless situation. Just shows how thin the margins are.

Even with the last two losses, historically the Lightning are 21-10 in OT in the playoffs. That's absurdly good.

 

[UseYourHedman]

My appreciation for 86 went up exponentially this year. I can excuse his turning into old Kuch for a second and throwing a hissy fit as long as he got that out of his system for the rest of the playoffs.

 

[CupsOverCash]

My appreciation for 86 went up exponentially this year. I can excuse his turning into old Kuch for a second and throwing a hissy fit as long as he got that out of his system for the rest of the playoffs.

Just make up for it next game.

 

[DFC]

Did someone seriously say bench kucherov?

he has the most points in the league right now...

yeah, he played dumb last night, but you don’t bench your best player in the playoffs. Think about the decision here. Do you give your team more of a chance to win with kucherov benched or with kucherov playing?

He also created both of our goals.