Lance Lysowski: Jon Cooper gave Sabres fans more reasons to despise Tampa Bay
Lightning coach Jon Cooper's comments Monday night following the Sabres' win gave Buffalo hockey fans more reasons to despise Tampa Bay.
If fans of the Buffalo Sabres were looking for more reasons to despise the coach of their newest rival, Jon Cooper of the Tampa Bay Lightning gave them more fodder with his postgame comments Monday night.
Buffalo Sabres players mix it up with Tampa Bay Lightning players during the first period at the KeyBank Center on Monday, April 6, 2026. (Harry Scull Jr./Buffalo News)
First, Cooper told reporters that the officials “sucked the fun” out of the Atlantic Division matchup, a 4-2 victory for the Sabres, by calling 13 penalties in 60 minutes. Then, he took aim at the NHL employee responsible for working the home team’s penalty box in KeyBank Center. Cooper, a two-time Stanley Cup-winning coach, alleged the door was unlatched when one of his players, Lightning winger Pontus Holmberg, injured his left arm in a collision with the boards.
The attendant was standing near the door because Sabres winger Zach Benson’s two-minute roughing penalty was about to end. A spokesperson from the NHL said the league is investigating the circumstances around Holmberg injuring his left arm.
“I don’t know who’s working the penalty box over there, but I don’t know if they should keep their job after what happened there, like, leaving the door open,” Cooper lamented. “That could have hurt anybody on either team. Those are just dangerous situations, so a little frustrated on my part.”
As he exited the locker room, Lightning winger Brandon Hagel overheard a discussion about the incident and said, "Should be fired." After acting Monday morning as if this were any other game, Tampa Bay’s grip on the Atlantic Division loosened.
The victory vaulted Buffalo into second place, tied with Tampa Bay’s 102 points, and Jason Zucker's game-winning goal in the second period prevented the Lightning from pulling away with its first divisional title since 2018-19. The Sabres went 3-0-1 against Cooper's team during the regular season, and it may not have been their final meeting in 2025-26. Imagine these two teams in a seven-game playoff series. It may soon become a reality.
Sabres fans have waited nearly 20 years to loathe a villain like this. In the final moments of their 16th consecutive sellout, groups in the 300 level chanted, "We want Hagel!" Hagel, who was not available due to injury, got ejected and fined $5,000 for punching Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin in the back of the head on March 8. There were five fights, 102 penalty minutes, and 15 goals scored as Buffalo won its most memorable regular-season game in decades, 8-7. It's a game you'll be talking about years from now while sitting around a dinner table or on a bar stool. It won't be the last chapter of this rivalry, either.
There were no fights in their latest meeting. The officials called eight penalties in the first period to send a message that post-whistle antics would not be tolerated. But the scene inside the building was the latest sign of what this can become.
"They've been physical games and tight games," said Lightning center Brayden Point. "They're a really good team over there. A lot of skill on their side. They're always tough games. And I think both teams just want to win."
Buffalo’s most popular vessel from which to consume alcohol, the coveted beer sabre, got hoisted high in the air, as fans animatedly reacted to a scrum during the first period. Liquid courage was spilled accidentally. Fists banged against the glass. Nachos were carefully set aside so fans could stand up to try to see every punch thrown.
The hockey diehards in the City of Good Neighbors demanded justice. Josh Dunne, a fourth-line center for their playoff-bound Sabres, crumbled to the ice because the Lightning’s Corey Perry jumped on Dunne’s back.
Perry snickered as he skated to the penalty box, and the crowd booed mercilessly as soon as it was announced the Lightning were getting a power play out of a scrum it was responsible for intensifying. Proximity doesn’t define a rivalry. In hockey, hate is born through intense, competitive games between two talented, playoff-bound teams. There's an art to the Lightning's irritating antics, a form of psychological warfare that only a championship team understands how to wage.
"Last game was definitely them testing us to see how much we would push back," said Sabres defenseman Mattias Samuelsson. "It’s part of their M.O. You've seen their series against Florida, they want to fight it out. ... They have (Nikita Kucherov) and some elite players, but there aren’t a lot of teams in this league that can keep up with our team top to bottom with our skating, speed, and skill. If you can’t compete there, you have to transform the game into something else."
It’s too soon to compare these hard-hitting matchups with the incredible games between the Sabres and Ottawa Senators nearly 20 years ago. This isn’t at the level of Martin Biron and Ray Emery trading punches, or the hatred in Western New York for Senators goon Chris Neil. To be compared to those heavyweight bouts, Cooper’s Lightning must face Lindy Ruff's Sabres in a playoff series. With the Toronto Maple Leafs dead in the water and headed toward a rebuild, there’s no better villain for the Sabres.
Let’s start with Cooper, whom the league’s broadcasters may mistakenly vote as the NHL’s coach of the year. He’s a well-dressed former trial lawyer who’s not afraid to give unfiltered opinions in press conferences. Good luck finding another coach who’s universally beloved by players around the league. Call it arrogance or confidence, but he carries himself with the swagger of a Bond villain.
Remember in 2019 when Dahlin was concussed on a high elbow by Lightning defenseman Erik Cernak? Or, how about Kucherov’s knee-on-knee hit one month earlier than it ended Vladimir Sobotka’s season? The two teams’ last meeting is front of mind for the Sabres and their fans – for good reason – but the tensions have existed since Dahlin’s rookie season in 2018-19. Tampa Bay has a way of getting under an opponent’s skin. Until the Florida Panthers’ ascent, no team in the NHL was better at punishing their opponent for 60 minutes than Cooper’s Lightning.
The roster does not have as much depth and skill as it did in 2020 and 2021 when it won consecutive Stanley Cups. Steven Stamkos is gone. Victor Hedman, the future Hall of Fame defenseman, has played in just 33 games this season because he's away from the team to tend to a personal matter. Yet the Lightning keep winning, with a 10-3-2 record in the past 15 games.
The final week of its season is more about preparing for the playoffs than jockeying for position, as we saw Monday with Cooper sitting Hagel and center Anthony Cirelli. Tampa Bay’s mission: a playoff series win for the first time since 2022 when it lost in the Cup Final. To accomplish the goal, Cooper said, the Lightning must finish strong and stay healthy. His team's performance Monday didn't inspire optimism.
"Listen, Buffalo’s got a good team," said Cooper. "They’re a fun team to play against and it can be great hockey, but it was kind of a choppy game."