Just days after Barry Melrose's harsh critique of his coaching situation in Tampa Bay, it was time for the Lightning to strike back.
Melrose's former players let it be known that weren't impressed by his comments made to a Toronto radio station on Tuesday saying he hoped the Lightning wouldn't win another game in the next year and that rookie forward Steven Stamkos was not ready for the NHL this season.
"It wasn't a very classy comment to make," Lightning goaltender Mike Smith told TSN on Thursday. "All the guys in the room don't have that much respect for him now. We respected him when he was here - guys played hard for him when he was our coach, but for him to go on like that shows how much he disrespects our team."
The Lightning struggled with a 5-7-4 record under Melrose and was 1-7-7 under new head coach Rick Tocchet going into Thursday's contest in Montreal.
Melrose also pointed out that Stamkos was now playing fewer minutes than he had when he was coaching, but the 18-year old said there's been a noticeable difference behing the bench.
"I didn't get that much ice time or opportunity, but that's changed with coach Tocchet," he said Thursday. "He's got a lot of confidence in me and he's helping me. I'm going to make mistakes as well as everyone else, but he's there to show me what I'm doing wrong and make me a better player and I really appreciate that."
Lightning co-owner Len Barrie, who was part of the decision-making process in Melrose's firing, said the coach's treatment of the rookie was the breaking point.
"The way Steven was treated early in the season, he was pretty close to being yanked out of there by his agent and his family - and that's how bad it's gotten," he said. "Telling him to hit and go out there physically - that's not Stamkos' kind of game. It was just a disconnect - he (Melrose) said it right, it wasn't his kind of team. There wasn't enough fighting and enough penalties."
Lightning captain Vincent Lecavalier, who had his own growing pains with the club after being taken first overall in 1998, told reporters that he didn't pay much attention to what Melrose said this week.
"He got fired - it's a tough situation when a team loses and usually the first person to go is the coach and I understand that," he said. "But it's part of business and that's the way it goes. He was frustrated, but sometimes you should stop talking."
Even former Lightning general manager Phil Esposito chimed in on the controversy, telling TSN's Off The Record that Melrose took his firing the wrong way.
"I'm surprised at the way Barry has handled this," he said Thursday. "All coaches get fired - my brother and I got fired by the new owner after the second game of the season and nobody seemed to give a damn then."
The Hall of Famer added that one of Melrose's mistakes was not utilizing his star players properly.
"I don't think he was using Lecavalier properly," he said. "I don't think he was using a lot of guys properly and that's the bone of his contention. I happened to find out that he was asked to play them more by the owner (Oren Koules)."