Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper benched superstar forwards Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point, and Steven Stamkos in the third period of Saturday's 5-3 loss against the Buffalo Sabres.
"As coaches, you've got to put your team in the best position to win, and 99.9% of the time, those guys give us the best chance to win when they're on the ice," Cooper said following the game, per Bally Sports Florida. "It just felt, in the third period, they weren't giving us the best chance to win."
Kucherov, Point, and Stamkos are Tampa Bay's top three scorers this season. The trio didn't play a single shift in the third period.
"We have a set of standards here that everybody adheres to, and it's not pick-and-choose; it's everybody," Cooper continued. "It's how it was for today. Like I said, those guys are an extremely important part of our team, but for 20 minutes tonight, I thought the other guys could get it done, and, you know what, they almost did."
The Lightning were losing 4-1 at the start of the final frame and being outshot 30-21. Tampa Bay turned the tide without Kucherov, Point, and Stamkos, outshooting the Sabres 15-4 in the third, but ultimately came up short in the comeback bid.
"Those guys are the reason we have a standard that high. It's because of those guys. Just for a period tonight, that was it," Cooper concluded.
The Lighting have lost four straight games and fallen five points back of the Toronto Maple Leafs for second in the Atlantic Division.
