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There’s only so much you can do to avoid falling victim to an injury when you play hockey for a living. However, Lightning coach Jon Cooper made it very clear he thinks a setback Pontus Holmberg suffered against the Sabres was avoidable while calling for the job of the Buffalo employee working in the penalty box where it occurred.
At this point last year, it was hard to imagine a late-season showdown between the Lightning and the Sabres would feature two teams that had punched their tickets to the Stanley Cup Playoffs, as there was no real reason to believe Buffalo was going to stage a turnaround and avoid extending a postseason drought responsible for an NHL record.
However, it came to an end after 14 years when they officially clinched their spot over the weekend, and on Monday night, they faced off against a Tampa Bay squad that has also earned the chance to compete for a championship for the eighth year in a row (and will hope to avoid its fourth consecutive one-and-done appearance).
The two teams are still vying for the top spot in the Atlantic Division, and they are now tied at 102 points apiece after the Sabres skated away with a 4-2 win. However, that wasn’t the only loss the Lightning suffered during a game that managed to spark an NHL investigation.
Lightning coach Jon Cooper was not happy about the freak penalty box injury Pontus Holmberg suffered
Every NHL game features two referees and two linesmen tasked with keeping order on the ice, and they are assisted by a number of officials who serve different roles off of it.
That includes the ones who get to watch the action unfold from the penalty box, who handle a handful of duties but are primarily tasked with an incredibly basic one: opening and closing the door.
NHL players obviously don’t want to remain in the sin bin for a single millisecond more than is necessary after serving their sentence, and most penalty box workers will unlatch the door a few seconds before it’s set to expire to ensure they’ll be able to release them as soon as the clock hits zero.
That usually doesn’t create any problems, but we were treated to one thanks to what unfolded when Lightning forward Pontus Holmberg was knocked out of Monday night’s game with the shoulder injury he suffered during a collision with the boards that was seemingly exacerbated by the penalty box door that had been unlocked for the impending release of Zach Benson (who was serving a concurrent roughing penalty with Jake Guentzel).
The Tampa Bay Lightning have another injury to worry about. Pontus Holmberg’s shoulder and head go straight into the boards.
The Holmberg-Gourde-Girgensons line is critical come playoff time. pic.twitter.com/a3ByQInOcX
— Evan Closky (@ECloskyWTSP) April 7, 2026
It appeared Holmberg injured his shoulder, and while the team has not provided an update on his status, Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper bluntly described his initial prognosis as “not good” after the game while going after the employee working the door, saying:
“I don’t know who’s working the penalty box over there, but I don’t know if they should keep their job after what happened there, leaving the door open.
That could have hurt anybody on either team. Those are just dangerous situations so a little frustrated on my part, to be honest.”
Brandon Hagel also said the employee “should be fired,” and while it seems like an honest mistake, we’ll have to see how things pan out after the NHL announced it had launched an investigation into what unfolded.