Maple Leafs' Sheldon Keefe Delivers Backhanded Compliment to How Lightning Worked Officials in Game 3, Cooper Disagrees
A hit from Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly on Tampa Bay Lightning forward Brayden Point resulted in a scrum and a fight among superstars. Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe pointed to Tampa's manipulation of the officiating.
TAMPA — It's not every day you see two top NHL superstars engage in a fight, but that's exactly what happened when Tampa Bay Lighting forward Steven Stamkos and Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews were both handed fighting majors in the third period of Toronto's 4-3 overtime victor in Game 3.
The fight occurred in the aftermath of a hit from Toronto defenseman Morgan Rielly, who checked Tampa forward Brayden Point in the corner boards.
Although Rielly was initially given a five-minute major for boarding, the call was rescinded after a review. In the aftermath of the scrum, a total of 26 minutes in penalties were handed out with Tampa receiving an extra minor. However, Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe felt Tampa deserved an extra minor penalty for Stamkos continued to punch Matthews while on the ice as referees were trying to break up the scrum.
"The fight itself, that's a classic example of a veteran championship team like Tampa Bay manipulating the officials and taking advantage of a situation, right? I mean they know that we're basically already going on the power play because of the Kucherov situation so it's a free-for-all. They can do whatever they want and they just know that the way the games get called they're not going to get another penalty. I mean you watch that sequence back and say that we shouldn't get a 5-on-3. The officials literally holding Steven Stamkos with one arm and his other hand with no glove on is punching Auston Matthews. Not the linesman, the referee who calls the penalty was holding Stamkos while this was happening. Credit to Tampa for recognizing that situation, it's a free pass to do what you want. Not only do they get out of it unscathed, but they take Matthews and O'Reilly with them to the box. Brilliant play by the Lightning there." - Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe following Toronto's 4-3 OT win in Game 3 against Tampa
Tampa head coach Jon Cooper responded to Keefe's comments during a media availability over Zoom on Sunday.
"Manipulated the referees, I'm not sure what that means," Cooper said. "When that hit happened, I think everybody watching at home and everybody in the building thought — including us — thought that we were going on the power play. And so our two best power-play players, I don't think they would sit there and take themselves off the power play unless they thought something unjust happened. Auston Matthews doesn't kill penalties. I don't think anyone thought that was going to happen, that one was a little different for me."
[gallery ids="5088,5089,5090,5091"]
Toronto didn't convert on the ensuing two-minute minor and because of the length of continuous play after the major penalty expired, Toronto was without the services for Matthews for nearly nine minutes.
The standard of officiating has become a focal point for every series in the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs and Keefe made a point to establish Tampa as one of the team's that has established a standard.
Point was injured on the play and had to leave the game, although he did return a few minutes later and completed the game.
"There were so many precautions and he went through so many tests and he was struggling," Cooper said of Point's return. "I haven't seen him yet today. I don't know how he's going to feel. It looked like he was in a car accident the way he went into that wall. A really scary situation and hopefully he'll be ok to play tomorrow."
Cooper also went on to say that he knows Rielly personally and knows he's not a dirty player, but did call the hit "reckless".
The Maple Leafs hold a 2-1 lead over Tampa in their best-of-seven first-round series. Game 4 is set for Monday at Amalie Arena.
Related