Cooper hopes Lightning get shot at 'unfinished business'

Tampa Bay Lightning bench boss Jon Cooper insists he doesn't give much thought to last spring's embarrassing first-round sweep against the Columbus Blue Jackets, but with the current season suspended, he's hoping his 2019-20 squad gets its shot to compete for the Stanley Cup.

"That's, gosh, over a year ago," Cooper said of the sweep, according to The Athletic's Joe Smith. "There has been a lot of time in between. To be honest, I haven't even thought about that until you brought it up.

"We're a pretty focused group. For some teams, the season ending abruptly is just a turn of the page for next year. And there are a bunch of teams that this season stopping is getting in the way of people's unfinished business. I say we're in that group, but there's others too."

With the NHL campaign currently on pause, Tampa Bay sits second in the Atlantic Division. And after winning the Presidents' Trophy before bowing out last year, Cooper says his club hasn't taken its success for granted this time around.

"I just think our mentality was a little bit different. Last year, we had more of a feeling of, 'Oh, we're bulletproof.' And this year, we don't feel like that at all. There was an urgency level to this team that's heightened."

The season was officially suspended on March 12, and its status remains unclear. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said the league is continuing to explore all options, and that players would need at least two-to-three weeks of training camp if the campaign does resume.

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