- Coach Jon Cooper of Tampa Bay claims that his team was dealt a rough hand in a rare late home loss on Thursday; nonetheless, the Lightning will have a chance to avenge their fate when the Montreal Canadiens make an appearance on the Gulf Coast on Saturday night. Cooper might be right. Tage Thompson of the Buffalo Sabres leveled the game at two with a power-play goal in the third period. The 6-foot-6 center then earned a hooking call in overtime, setting up Rasmus Dahlin’s man-advantage goal to give the Sabres a 3-2 victory.After his team lost to 4-6 in the five-minute session, he remarked, “There are plays that go for you and against you. “A lot, in my opinion, went wrong for us tonight. I believe that everyone in the building witnessed Buffalo’s penalty, but nobody called it. The Lightning suffered an unusual defeat when leading after two periods, losing 23–1-3 in that situation. After 40 minutes, Cooper’s Lightning led 2-1 until Thompson and Dahlin buried them with power-play markers. “You’ve got to play the hand you’re dealt,” Cooper said.
We can moan and cry all we want, but that’s not who we are. We were dealt a hand, and we didn’t play it properly. Proceed to engage in the game. We were not able to capitalize on it, but they were.” Like the Lightning, Montreal is also hurting from a third-period lead that was wasted, and they also had issues with their special teams in a game against the Florida Panthers that required overtime.
