Tampa Bay Head Coach Wants More Fans in Montreal for Stanley Cup Final

The Tampa Bay Lightning punched their ticket to the Stanley Cup Final on Friday night and now will face the Montreal Canadiens. The first game in Montreal looks set for next Friday (Game 3) and if it's up to Lightning head coach Jon Cooper, he would sell out the Bell Centre.

Cooper spoke with Sportsnet's Chris Johnston and had this to say about heading north:

I hope they let more fans in there. The fans of Quebec, they haven't been back since '93, they deserve to watch their team play. I hope they get in there because ... this game was meant to be played in front of fans.

The capacity was set at 3,500 for the semifinals against the Stanley Cup semifinals, which was a boost of 1000 people over their Round 2 series against the Winnipeg Jets. While the Bell Centre rocks with a fully building, perhaps more than any other building in the league, it's a huge stretch to think they will allow the Canadiens to sell it out.

Pretty crazy to think 3500 people were only allowed inside, meanwhile this was going on outside. Let's hope for everyone's sake they open it right up!

#WATCH: Montreal celebrates as the #Habs eliminate Vegas and move on to the Stanley Cup final for the first time since 1993. Video credit: @by.ariane #GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/9M5mVR5Nri
— CityNews Montreal (@CityNewsMTL) June 25, 2021