Ever since Matthew Tkachuk made a comeback in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, he has constantly made the headlines. However, yesterday, he was in the news for all the wrong reasons after a major controversy. In the dying stages of the game, Tkachuk leveled Lightning star Jake Guentzel with a huge hit. Although the latter avoided an injury, his face bounced off the ice. Subsequently, the Lightning coach, Jon Cooper, had some strong words against Tkachuk, which invited a reaction from the Panthers coach, Paul Maurice.

Taking a cheeky dig at Tkachuk and the Panthers, Cooper responded by saying, “The only players we hit are the ones with pucks.” Interestingly, these were the same words that Maurice had recited after Game 2. Responding to Cooper’s comments, Maurice said, “He chirped me… My wife had a good chuckle. I think she thought it was pretty funny. And I think the coaches probably all have to take over the chirps at some point. It’s kind of a lost art on the bench. So it’s all good.”

Further, according to several reports, it was revealed that the NHL Player Safety body won’t be looking at that incident again, as Matthew Tkachuk escaped further punishment for his actions. Earlier, he received a major penalty and also had to miss the dying stages of the game after coming together with Guentzel. Later, the Lightning star revealed, “I passed the puck, and I felt like a long time after, I got hit. I’m sure the league is going to take a look at it. We all know the history of the past couple games.”

Amid a turnaround in fortunes, both coaches had some important takeaways ahead of the crucial Game 4. With the Panthers leading 2-1, the tie could go either way after the Lightning struck back with a convincing victory in Game 3.

Some strong words from the coaches as the tie takes an interesting turn

Although the Panthers dominated the early part of the tie and quickly took a 2-0 lead, the Lightning came back strongly to pull one back. However, there is still work to be done, and their head coach, Jon Cooper, had some important words for the team.

He said, “You would have never known, sitting in the locker room after Game 2, that we were down 0-2. And so, riding into this game, it wasn’t going to guarantee the result, but I knew damn well how the effort was going to be. And they delivered.’’

While Cooper was happy with the performance, Maurice explained where it all went wrong for the Panthers, saying, “I thought how we moved the puck slowed our game down. One tell is when you’re getting 27 shot blocks, you’re late getting it off your stick or into the hole, so that’s a number that is important.”

The crucial Game 4 between the Panthers and the Lightning takes place tomorrow. Can the Panthers put one foot in the second round after winning tomorrow’s game against the Lightning? Let us know your views in the comments below.