The Montreal Canadiens won Game 1 over the Tampa Bay Lightning in overtime. After the game, Lightning head coach Jon Cooper called out his own players for taking too many penalties.
The Stanley Cup playoffs are up and running. In the East, the Montreal Canadiens won the first game against the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first overtime playoff game of the season.
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Juraj Slafkovsky hat trick
Canadiens forward Juraj Slafkovsky, who scored 30 goals in the regular season, completed a hat trick with his game-winning goal just 1:22 into overtime. As a result, at just 22 years and 20 days old, Slafkovsky became the third-youngest player in Canadiens history to register a playoff hat trick. Meanwhile, Bernie Geoffrion in 1952 and Howie Morenz in 1924 achieved the same feat at just 21 years old.
“I found some open space there and decided to shoot it. Thankfully, it went in, so we’re really happy. But we’ve got to stay focused. We’ve got another game in two days, so we’ve got to make sure we’re prepared for that,” Slafkovsky told reporters after the game.
Jon Cooped called out his own team
All of Slafkovsky’s goals came on the power play. In total, the Lightning took seven penalties. After the game, Lightning head coach Jon Cooper criticized his own players for the number of penalties they took.
“I had a problem with us. Come on, we took four offensive-zone penalties. Just look at them. That was not over-aggression—that was stupidity in a lot of them. That was on us. We gave them an opportunity to win. And this is the Stanley Cup playoffs; this isn’t Game 62. That is extremely disappointing, the number of penalties that we took. There are no excuses,” Cooper told reporters.
Game 2 will be played on Tuesday.
You can watch Jon Cooper’s press conference below.
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