NHL Peachy: 2015 Eastern Conference Final Off Day Transcript May 21 (TBL Coach Cooper) Our Coverage Sponsored by Stribling and Associates
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An interview with:
COACH COOPER
Q. When you see Stamkos' name as the leader in the hits category, and may have mentioned this last night, obviously, that's not necessarily what you want him to do, but when he does it, does it kind of give everybody a lift?
COACH COOPER: I don't know if it's something we necessarily don't want him to do. It's part of his game. He's a powerful skater. He generates a lot of speed, and he has the ability to finish a check.
Do I expect him to throw the ones he threw on Hayes all the time? Those don't come around all the time, but he had the opportunity and it was a good, clean hit. But I do like what he's been doing. He's been on the right side of the puck and on players, and he's been able to rub guys out and just eliminate.
It's a hard thing to do, because now you're losing your speed. It takes more time to get going. But it's just showing his commitment level of playing the entire - kind of throwing his entire package out.
He wears the "C", and when you're doing that, everybody seems to follow, and it's good to watch.
Q. Do you have an update on Matt Carle?
COACH COOPER: No update. What's the line? Day to day, but then again, aren't we all?
Q. I'm sure talking was the last thing on your mind when you first got wind of Ryan Callahan. Could you talk about that and how would you assess his play since he came back?
COACH COOPER: Well, I think the one thing about Ryan Callahan for myself is he never disappoints. He is the consummate professional. He just wears his heart on his sleeve, and it's just really hard to keep that guy down.
I'm sure he'd probably get up here and say, oh, I wish I had some more goals, but he does so many other things aside from that. He was on the ice a lot against the Stepan line last night and I thought did a great job against them, and usually that's the kind of stuff that doesn't make the newspapers, but it makes the papers in our locker room. He's all about winning. Doesn't matter at what cost or how it's going to happen, that's what he's about.
I look back at how we've kind of improved our team over the last year, and I know he came in a trade, but he still had the option to leave. There were 30 teams that wanted his services, and he chose to stay here, and that was a big get for us.
Q. You mentioned Killorn being a giant among men last night along with Palat. He's had quite a good postseason. What have you liked about his game especially in the last couple months?
COACH COOPER: Especially- Killorn, to me, he's like a gazelle, and he plays - he's just one of those guys that makes everybody around him better. That's why I use him and Palat kind of in the same sentence because they kind of have the same role on the line.
Fil, and Stammer, and Kuch, and Johnny are more probably looked at as the skill, and finesse, and the scoring and all those kind of things.
Well, what is the straw that stirs the drink? And oftentimes it's Killorn and Palat, and it's because, as you said, they go quietly, I think you used the word, having that type of playoff, they quietly go in the corner and get the puck, and they quietly make sure they're driving the net. And they quietly have the first guy back on the backcheck. And they're quietly blocking the shot. So I don't know if that's quiet. Maybe, but it's noise for us, and it's great noise.
You need that - that's their guy. A lot of people talk about lines and pairs, and the triplets may be a different beast in that. But who is that third guy that can kind of hold everything together and make everything work, and for me, it's Killorn with those guys.
Q. With Killorn and Stamkos now picking up their scoring here in the playoffs and you've got the triplets that have just gone out of control, would you say this has more turned into the Lightning's version of the Fab 5?
COACH COOPER: No, because it's been different guys. I know Johnny, Kuch, and Palat have consistently been, I guess, scoring throughout the playoffs, but you can't leave Bishop out. Bishop has been unreal for us. You can't leave Stralman out, Hedman, Garrison, Coburn, Shoe, Carle, Nesty, all those guys have come in and contributed.
That's why I guess different players get a little bit of notoriety for different things. But for us and I think that's what makes something special about our team is nobody's in there - they're patting the triplets on the back, but everybody's patting Stralman on the back and Hedman, and all the guys throughout the line-up.
You look at Brenden Morrow and what he's brought to our team and his physicality and his fire. He may not get on the podium every time, but he means a ton to our team. So, I don't know, call them the Fab 20, not the Fab 5.
Q. I know you can't speak for the Rangers, but would you anticipate they would try to get back to that 2-1 game that they're so good at?
COACH COOPER: You're right. I can't speak for the Rangers.
Q. I gave you an out on that one. But do you think they'll try to slow the game down?
COACH COOPER: Honestly, I don't know. How do you slow a game down with two really fast teams? I don't know. I've watched a lot of their games in the playoffs and when they tried to play fast, I mean, they were trying to play fast.
I don't think the games against Pittsburgh were really slow. The Washington game was a fierce battle for seven games, where I thought Washington carried a lot of the play sometimes and the Rangers carried a bunch of the play sometimes. There was, I don't know - I think it's just two hockey teams trying to win a game, whether it's 6-5 or 2-1, they're still trying to win the game. This was an overtime game, so it's a one-goaler, and it's just two teams battling. I don't know if they tried to slow the game down. I don't know if they have that in their game, maybe they do. But we've played some pretty high-scoring games against them. Not just us, but they score as well.
So do I expect it 6-5 again? No, I don't. But that will probably be both teams the way they're playing.
Q. You mentioned Brenden Morrow there. Just curious, how would you articulate what the value of a guy like that is who is obviously at this stage of his career not playing big minutes, but is a big part of your group?
COACH COOPER: The thing is about guys like Morrow, and, again, kind of a sneaky mid- or off-season signing, but that's what we were looking for is somebody that's been there before, that's been in those wars. He's played in a Cup Final, but he's never won the Cup. You can see he's got a hunger in his eyes for it.
But I think - I don't know how to say this. Can you have 20 Gretzkys on your team? I guess you could, but how would that team play? Wayne Gretzky is arguably the greatest player to ever play in the game, but he had a complementary cast with him. Although it looked at times like he did everything himself, he did have a bunch of help. I look at guys like Morrow where you have a group of players that have a little speed, a little skill, well, who is going to be that guy that goes to those dirty areas? Who is going to be that physical guy? Who is going to be the guy in the locker room that when things go a little bit awry that can calm guys down? That's Brenden Morrow.
There was a reason he was on the 2010 Olympic team. That's a pretty decent team to find yourself on. I don't think he was brought in there to be their goal scoring leader. He was brought in because he's a piece of the puzzle, and we have a bunch of pieces of the puzzle. Some might be bigger than others, but you still need all the pieces to complete it, and Morrow's one of those pieces for us.
Q. What do you see that's perhaps elevated as the stakes are getting higher?
COACH COOPER: Bish?
Q. Yeah.
COACH COOPER: One of the things I think he's done really well is play the puck. He's been like a third defenseman back there for us, and it's given us a lot of confidence in breaking pucks out. The other thing is with him, I think as the series have gone on and the bigger the games have gotten, so has Bish's game gotten better.
So really, when we've had our back against the wall, especially in the Detroit series, Bish was there to bail us out, and that's what you need in your guy. So just to watch his mental maturity under the highest of pressure games, that's been what's most impressive for me.
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