Jon Cooper Blasts Paul Maurice With Comments After Lightning/Panthers Game 3

We've officially got ourselves a series in the Battle of Florida; the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Florida Panthers 5-1 to cut into what was a 2-0 series lead at the beginning of the day.

Just as it was in Game 2, today's 3rd period included a controversial moment that involved a massive late body check which resulted in a 5-minute major penalty.

Florida's Matthew Tkachuk leveled Tampa's Jake Guentzel with a late hit in the neutral zone a moment after he fed the puck to teammate Anthony Cirelli, who subsequently scored on Florida's open net to make the score 5-1 and put the game out of reach.

Afterward, Lightning coach Jon Cooper had a clever response to the hit and was his way of using Panthers coach Paul Maurice's own words against him.

It was the exact same thing that Maurice said about the controversial hit from Tampa's Brandon Hagel on Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov in the 3rd period of Game 2.

Hagel was given a 5-minute major penalty for the hit and was lated suspended for Game 3 by the NHL Department of Player Safety.

Guentzel has already sounded off on the hit by Tkachuk, saying that he hopes the NHL will "do its job" and suspend him as Hagel was.

If Tkachuk is suspended for Game 4, it would be a major advantage for the Lightning as they attempt to tie the series at 2-2.