TAMPA, Fla. — His general manager stood at the podium preaching humility.



Several of his Tampa Bay Lightning players then took turns in front of media scrums on exit interview day dissecting what went wrong in their stunning collapse.



And then Jon Cooper entered. A week earlier, on the morning of the series opener, Cooper had posed for a photo with Hall of Famer Scotty Bowman while holding the milestone puck from his team’s record-tying 62nd win.



Now Cooper was part of a more exclusive club, the only coach of a Presidents’ Trophy-winning team to get swept in the first round.



This was a chance to shoulder some blame, which would take some heat off his players. After all, everyone had their hands in this one, including the coach, right? So I asked Cooper what he learned from this humbling experience. What would he have done differently?



“That’s probably a better question for me at the end of the summer when I get...