TAMPA, Fla. — Playing a team in the postseason tends to give Jon Cooper more of an appreciation for his opposition. Not just because it’s on a bigger stage, but because over a seven-game series, the Tampa Bay coach gets a chance to see players in a way he can’t over the regular season.
Enter Adam Fox.
“It’s like he’s got ice in his veins,” Cooper said of the Rangers defenseman Saturday. “It’s actually pretty impressive to watch. You get to look at some of these players up close, you haven’t really been able to watch. And he — I don’t think anything — the skating doesn’t stand out, the shot doesn’t stand out. It’s not like he’s elite in any of these areas, but he’s an elite player.
Rangers defenseman Adam Fox controls the puck ahead of the Lightning’s Pat Maroon during Game 3. Getty Images“And his vision is exceptional. And so you can’t take anything for granted with him because he sees everything so well. The game slows down for him. I’m really impressed with him. He’s a heck of a player.”
Fox had at least one assist in each of the first three games of the conference final against Cooper’s Lightning, putting on a show with the puck at his stick in Game 2, when he played keep-away for much of the 25:12 he was on the ice and assisted on two of the Rangers’ goals.
“I think he can beat you in a lot of ways,” Lightning center Anthony Cirelli said. “Obviously you see he’s a great passer, makes good reads on the ice and can make plays all over. He’s pretty fast as well. Obviously we gotta be aware when he’s out there.”
It’s no secret that last year’s Norris Trophy winner is an elite player, of course. But in his first non-bubble playoff run, Fox has held his own. In a conference final that pits him against Victor Hedman, he had outscored the 2020 Conn Smythe winner headed into Tuesday’s Game 4.
“He’s obviously one of the top D in the league, right?” Tampa Bay forward Pierre-Edouard Bellemare said. “So when you play one of those guys, they have talent, they have creativity that makes it tough. But at the end of the day, we just have to make it hard on him, too.”
If the Rangers can finish off the Lightning, a bigger test looms in this year’s Norris front-runner, Cale Makar, who had five points for the Avalanche in their Western Conference Final-clinching Game 4 against the Oilers on Monday.
For now, though, Fox is proving himself against the Rangers’ current opponent just fine.
“He kinda is at the forefront of a lot of the good things that are happening for them,” Cooper said. “You’re doing it at the biggest stage. It’s pretty impressive.”
