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NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE FINAL: LIGHTNING v PENGUINS

May 24, 2016

Jon Cooper

Tampa, Florida: Game Six

Q. (No microphone). An opportunity for Koekkoek to play an awful lot. Since it's his first playoffs and the way he's been playing, what is your thoughts on what he's done. Seems like you have a lot of trust in him.
COACH COOPER: There's no question. First of all, you have a player who's blessed as a skater, and he can move around the ice extremely well. There's another example of a relatively high draft pick that had a stressful junior career and went into pro and learned to play the game, the professional game, in the American League. I thought they did a great job with him down there. He's come up here. He's always had that availability, but now he's got the confidence with that.
When you know you belong, it really helps you in this league, and I think with every minute he plays, he gets better and better and more confident. He's done a heck of a job for us.

Q. Yeah, just wondering, Coop, a lot‑‑ I think, there's been eight goalies used in the Conference Final. Some are from injuries, but your team has shown just how important a two‑goalie system is in the modern day game, whereas 20 years ago you had a number one and then just kind of put a replacement in there. Can you talk a little bit about how key it is to have two guys that can start at any time.
COACH COOPER: Well, (indiscernible) I should bring you up here to answer this one. The position has become so important now, and the way the game's played, it's just the size, the skill, the speed, that the smaller goaltender is kind of getting weeded out now. Now you've got to go to size just because your percentages of stopping a puck are that much better when you have size. It's not that the talent of the smaller goalie is any less. It's just harder for them to get a tipped shot because they're small. That's obviously an advantage for a Ben Bishop or a Vasilevskiy or some of these guys that are big.
But the margin of error in the game today is so slim that goaltending is a major part of having success, and you have to have it in order to succeed. You know, I've said it a million times. The goalie doesn't always have to win you a game. It's great when he does. He just can't lose the games.
The way the guys shoot and play the game today, you really need two. Plus the position is really demanding now because of the speed, the amount of shots, the volume, the up, the down, the all over, and you need another guy. You need somebody to give that guy a rest, especially when you look at us now, you include the exhibition games, we're well into 100 games, and that's hard to do with just one guy.

Q. Jon, taking away all the chaos that went on with Drouin earlier this season, just how much have you looked at his development, compared it or used the model of Kucherov's development to help Drouin?
COACH COOPER: In the sense‑‑ it kind of ended up almost in the same position, but they just took different paths. But to probably Kucherov's benefit, he was a little older when this went down, and did not come in with near the fanfare that Drouin came in, and that's not Drouin's fault. He was on a lot of magazine covers, and he had a ton of success where he played.
So I think there's a time maybe‑‑ and I don't know if it's just with Jonathan, but other players that come in like that, they have such a high standard for themselves. I think, when you don't find success right away, it's troubling for them because they demand that much from themselves, and I think it‑‑ somebody like Kucherov, he goes a little bit under the radar because he wasn't a first rounder or a second rounder. He put up big points, but he was never really‑‑ didn't come with the name that everybody else did. So I guess the expectation for him is much less, just like it was for a Palat or a Johnson, all those guys.
But for those guys that are picked in the top five, it's‑‑ God, you got to feel for those guys. They've got the talent, but now they're expected to perform. So many people think, well, you're just going to step in the league at 18 and be dominant. I truly believe Jonathan is going to be dominant in this league, but it's hard to do at 18. He had to work through it, and that's it.
But I think (indiscernible), that's the only thing that's really different. Both of them found a way to overcome struggling early, and you get those guys that keep knocking at the door, you want those guys around, and they've done a heck of a job.

Q. Jon, you addressed this somewhat yesterday, but when you have players on the other team sort of guaranteeing victories or making strong statements, does that become bulletin board material in your room at all?
COACH COOPER: Not really. I guess in the end you've still got to win four games and ‑‑ you're almost disappointed if they weren't coming out saying that. I guess, if they win the game tonight, good for them. They predicted what was going to happen. And if they don't, you know, it doesn't really matter because they'll be‑‑ we're going to move on. So I don't‑‑ the games played on the ice, it's not played up here, and that's where our guys have really, let's just play the game on the ice and not behind the microphone.

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