Coach Cooper calls Bennett's hit on Vasilevskiy 'dumb', says his team will not back down

Tuesday night's preseason game between the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning looked more like the postseason with the rivals throwing hits and punches for just about the entire game. With just under five minutes gone in the second, the Lightning got really fired up after Florida's Sam Bennett hit goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy behind the net, which always sets off a firestorm in the NHL. Here's the hit:

Following the game, Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper was asked about Bennett's hit on his netminder. Cooper didn't hold back at all.

"Let's be honest- the guy did something dumb. And there's retribution for stuff like that. You want to go down that road, we're sure the hell not going to back down," said Cooper.

Lightning forward Pat Maroon agreed.

"Read between the lines. You run the goalie, you're going to get answered to," said Maroon. "I think the boys did a good job of responding. That's why good teams win. Obviously, we didn't get the result we wanted tonight losing again, but we build as a team, we grew as a team, we build a lot of character as a team. Players stepped up and stuck up for Big Cat."

Many feel that goalies who leave their crease should be fair game when it comes to hitting, but the bottom line is they aren't. Bennett was given a two-minute charging penalty for his actions.

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