Lightning coach Cooper: 'I want to be an angry team'
The Lightning have not played their best hockey in this second-round series against the Montreal Canadiens, and following a loss in Game 5, Lightning coach Jon Cooper said the team was officially annoyed.
"There was a difference in the room after we had lost Game 4, and the difference after Game 5 was, there was a genuine pissed-off attitude,” Cooper told reporters. "I could just tell nothing really needed to be said. Guys were angry. It has carried over. I like where we are right now. I want to be an angry team."
The Lightning will have to be careful with that anger. Earlier in the series, the Canadiens proved that too much anger can lead to too many costly penalties, as the Canadiens lost Game 2, 6-2, by allowing Tampa to score four power-play goals. Tampa needs just one win in the next two games to advance, but Cooper said the Bolts will enter Game 6 with a do-or-die attitude.
"I’m not buying into this ‘Oh, well, we have another game,’ ” Cooper said to the media. “For us, we’re not looking to knock them out in Game 7. We want to knock them out in Game 6."
(h/t Toronto Sun)
Photo by Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
