Lightning's Jon Cooper likens Game 2 breakthroughs to ingesting Alka-Seltzer
When Jon Cooper watched Steven Stamkos and his Tampa Bay Lightning rediscover their potent, dynamic form in Game 2 on Sunday, he experienced a sensation similar to gulping down a tall, foamy glass of over-the-counter antacid formula.
"I don't know if it was more relief that he scored or the power play scored, so it was kind of the whole compilation of Alka-Seltzer," he told reporters.
Cooper saw barely a flicker from his man advantage in the Lightning's first-round escape of the Detroit Red Wings. But Stamkos's gorgeous breakaway tally in the 6-2 thrashing - a goal that ended an 11-game drought - was surely the tipping point in flushing away the coach's indigestion.
The Lightning captain was relieved, too, but less figurative in his description.
"It was definitely a release of some things that have been building up. Whether it's my first or my twentieth, at that time of the game, to go up, your emotions are running high.
"Any time you score a goal in the playoffs it's exciting, but that one maybe a little more so than others I've scored."
The Lightning can take a 3-0 stranglehold on home ice Wednesday night.