Gino Hard says Lightning coach Jon Cooper asked a trainer for a step stool for Darren Pang during a bench interview tonight.
Cooper had plenty to be loose about. The Lightning beat the Sabres 8-3 in Buffalo, and the coach was clearly in a mood to play to the cameras.
Hard's post lays out the gag in one line: Cooper wanted the stool so Pang would have something to stand on while he was interviewed behind the bench.
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The joke is not subtle. It takes aim at Pang's size, live on the air, with the whole building and everyone watching at home able to see it.
When Jon Cooper delivered the line, Darren Pang answered with a slightly awkward laugh, one that seemed more or less genuine. We'll let you be the judge.
Pang knows the bench from the other side. He played 81 NHL games as a goalie for Chicago, so he has heard worse chirps than a stool request.
We already covered Cooper's bench gesture going viral earlier tonight, and the reaction has only grown since the post started circulating.
It also lands at a good time for Cooper. His week began with his update on Brayden Point's injury after the center left Sunday's game in Winnipeg in the first period, a night that ended in a 4-3 loss.
Did Cooper go too far with the Pang joke?
Probably not, and the scoreboard is a big reason why. A coach cracking wise about a broadcaster's height with his team up big is a bench-side bit, the kind of ribbing that happens every night in hockey rooms.
Flip the result and the same stunt looks different. If the Lightning are chasing the game, a gag aimed at a man doing his job on live TV reads as a coach with his mind elsewhere.
Still, a joke about someone's body is a line, even a friendly one. Cooper stayed on the right side of it tonight, but only barely, and only because Pang apparently went along with it.
The Lightning are back at it Thursday, November 12, in Columbus, and the next bench interview will be watched a little more closely than usual.
This article was written with the help of artificial intelligence, based on public reports and official sources.
Did Jon Cooper cross the line with his step stool joke on Darren Pang?
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