Lightning’s Jon Cooper makes ‘Hockey Gods’ claim after stunning Game 7 loss

The Tampa Bay Lightning suffered a crushing loss to the Montreal Canadiens in Game 7 on Sunday. Montreal was held to fewer than 10 shots on goal in this game. However, Jon Cooper watched as his team lost and were eliminated from the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs by the Habs.

Cooper has been around the block. In fact, the Lightning head coach is currently the longest-tenured head coach in the league. Outside of Buffalo’s Lindy Ruff — who previously coached the Sabres from 1997 to 2013 — Cooper is the only coach in the league to have been behind his team’s bench for 1000 games.

He understands that sometimes, things just fall away from you. And he recognized this during his media availability following Game 7 on Sunday.

“The Hockey Gods have been in my corner many, many times and tonight they were in the other corner. And that’s what happens. It’s not the movies, it’s not something where you can retake it and get the scene right. It’s live theater, right there in front you. And you never know what’s going to happen,” the Lightning coach said, via 10 Tampa Bay sports director Evan Closky.

Tampa won two Stanley Cups in 2020 and 2021 under Cooper’s watch. They returned to the Stanley Cup Final in 2022, but lost to the Colorado Avalanche. Since that Final loss in 2022, though, Tampa has been one-and-done in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Lightning still have a ton of talent, and they will be competitive for a few more years. However, with this string of postseason defeats, questions about their competitive window will need to be answered sooner rather than later.

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