Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper denied what his former assistant, Derek Lalonde, said about Bolts goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy on national TV in Canada earlier this week.

Lalonde, now the Detroit Red Wings head coach, has provided in-studio analysis for Sportsnet during these playoffs. He said Monday night that the Lightning coaching staff restructured its defensive coverage during his tenure to compensate for Vasilevskiy's apparent weakness in tracking shots from long range.

Cooper suggested Lalonde conjured up the anecdote when asked about it Wednesday.

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"Sportsnet is paying him well to go give an opinion, so he's got to make something up about that kind of stuff," Cooper said.

"He's there because he was an assistant coach on this team, so he's trying to offer insight and trying to give the fans something, and so he should be doing that," the bench boss added. "He's just got to make sure it's accurate what he's saying."