Jon Cooper wants a penalty box attendant fired after former Leaf Pontus Holmberg fell into an open door
Photo credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images
Jon Cooper wants whoever left that penalty box door open fired after Pontus Holmberg went shoulder-first into the door and left the game injured.
On Monday night, the Tampa Bay Lighting were in the thick of a game against the Buffalo Sabres which had a lot of Atlantic Division implications, and although both teams are playoff bound — they both also wanna reign supreme.
However if Tampa had aspirations of getting first, they will have to do so without Pontus Holmberg, who left the game with an injury and is a huge blow to Tampa's defensive game up front.
Jon Cooper says the penalty box attendant at Keybank should lose their job after Holmberg fell into an open door
But it was how he was injured that is drawing the ire of head coach Jon Cooper. Cooper did not hold anything back when he called for the firing of whoever was attending the penalty box after Holmberg fell into a door that was slightly ajar:
I don't know who is 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. That could have hurt anyone on either team.
You could see in the video above that Holmberg went shoulder/collarbone first into the door as it popped open slightly, clearly not fully latched shut. Holmberg threw his gloves down in frustration knowing that this wasn't a good situation.
The incident occurred coincidentally at the same time that Buffalo's Zach Benson was about to leave the box which makes it seem like genuine human error and nothing malicious.
It also didn't help things any that Cooper was on the receiving end of a 4-2 loss to the Sabres, and Holmberg's status is only going to make him even more upset.
The loss moved the Sabres into a tie for first with the Lightning as the both sit with 102 points, so it's going to come down to the wire as to who comes out on top.
NHL investigating the Pontus Holmberg incident after outcry from Cooper and the Lightning — who drop a crucial two points
According to sources, the NHL is going to be looking into the situation to see if there was any intent or what the circumstances were surrounding the errant penalty box being open.
Cooper was frustrated with the officiating all night, and will at least be happy to hear that the NHL is going to take a look, even if the conclusion doesn't give him the best news.
But it's actually quite interesting to see the NHL take a deep look at this knowing that they often let things like this go. It's okay to knee people intentionally and swing sticks at people's heads, but heaven forbid there's some grand conspiracy at play in Buffalo.
There is precedent to these types of injuries however, as Bryan Marchment knocked himself out cold against Dallas back in 1997 leading to a very scary scene on the ice.
It's a big reason as to why the league is likely investigating, and we will have more information later on and provide an update. However, all we can hope now is that Holmberg's injury isn't too serious.
And that Cooper doesn't find out whoever that guy in the box was — for his own safety.
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| POLL | ||
AVRIL 7|669 ANSWERS Jon Cooper wants a penalty box attendant fired after former Leaf Pontus Holmberg fell into an open door Should the NHL fire the penally box attendant who injured Pontus Holmberg? | ||
| Yes | 336 | 50.2 % |
| No | 333 | 49.8 % |
| List of polls | ||