Lightning coach Jon Cooper benches three top scorers for entire third period as team struggles

Forward Steven Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point have been a huge part of the Tampa Bay Lightning's tremendous recent success, and the team's top three scorers combined Saturday afternoon on the first goal against the Buffalo Sabres.

But with the Lightning trailing the Sabres 4-1 after two periods, coach Jon Cooper benched the three stars for the entire third of Buffalo's 5-3 victory. It was the three-time defending Stanley Cup finalist's fourth consecutive loss.

"As coaches, you got to put your team in the best position to win," Cooper said after the game. "99.9% of the time, those guys give us the best chance to win when they're on the ice. It just felt in the third period that they weren't giving us the best chance to win."

Stamkos, the team captain, was on the ice for three Sabres goals. All three were on the ice when Buffalo had an easy breakout that led to a Tyson Jost goal.

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"This team's been unbelievable for a decade," Cooper said. "You take the three finals. Well, there's a reason a lot of that's happened. We have a set of standards here that everybody adheres to. It's not pick and choose. It's everybody."

In the third period, the Lightning gave up a quick goal to Jeff Skinner but got two goals from Alex Killorn to pull closer. They outshot Buffalo 15-4 in the period.

"Those (three) guys are an extremely important part of our team but for 20 minutes tonight, I thought the other guys could get it done, and you know, they almost did," Cooper said.

He added: "It's the best league in the world with the best players in the world and if you're not on it, you're not giving it to the standard that this franchise has set the bar for the league .... you can't go out there."

Forward Pat Maroon said the team received the message and he believes the three stars will respond well in the next game Sunday at the Carolina Hurricanes.

“They’re veteran players, they’re leaders on this team and they’re very vocal about it,” he said. “They’re mad about it and they’ll man up to it and own up to it.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Lightning's Steven Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point all benched