HEAD COACH WHO LOSES GAME 7 MAY BE OUT OF A JOB

It was during the handshake line following a first-round win against the Columbus Blue Jackets when Barry Trotz shook hands with head coach John Tortorella and appeared to let him in on a little secret.

According to lip readers, Trotz appeared to say: “I’m gone, I’m gone. I’m not coming back.”

He denied that’s what they were talking about. But after leading the Capitals past the two-time defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins in the second round — something few expected — you didn’t have to be a lip-reader to see him exhaling.

And yet, if you think reaching Game 7 of the Eastern Conference final has provided Trotz with added job security, think again. If anything, getting this close has landed him back on the hot seat.

It was in 2015 when Bruce Boudreau led the Anaheim Ducks to the doorstep of the Stanley Cup final, having lost just once on the way there. But the Ducks couldn’t quite get over the hump and lost to the Blackhawks 5-3 in Game 7.

Boudreau, who had led Anaheim to four consecutive division titles and a peerless 208-104-40 record, was fired two days later.

No one is suggesting either coach in this year’s conference final faces the same retribution if they lose in Game 7 Wednesday night, but it is worth noting Trotz is without a contract for next season and Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper is believed to have one more year remaining on a multi-year extension he signed in 2015.

In other words, there is pressure to win. The players know it, and so do the coaches, who unlike Jack Adams Award favourite Gerard Gallant of the Vegas Golden Knights, have neither surprised nor impressed anyone by getting this far in the playoffs.

Both the Capitals and Lightning won their respective divisions in the regular season. Both have rosters filled with superstar talent, but because of trades or potential losses in free agency, the window of opportunity might not be as wide open as it is today.

For two coaches who have never won, it could be a defining moment.

Trotz’s playoff history mirrors that of Alex Ovechkin’s. After spending his first 15 years in the NHL behind the bench of a Nashville team that never advanced past the second round, he has

led the Capitals to four straight playoff appearances, three division titles and two Presidents’ Trophies as the best team in the regular season. But this is the furthest he’s made it in the postseason.

When asked about his lack of a contract past this season, Trotz told the Washington Post earlier this month: “I signed for four years, and this is the fourth year. Beyond that, who knows?”

Capitals GM Brian MacLellan told reporters at the start of the playoffs that the team “wanted to wait to see how the year finished up, the total year,” before making a head-coaching decision. That presumably means he’s still being evaluated.

Cooper has had more playoff success, but with that success comes heightened expectations. Ever since the Lightning lost to the Blackhawks in the 2015 Cup final — Cooper’s second full year as Tampa Bay’s head coach — the team has been the perennial preseason favourite to win the Cup.

The Lightning lost to the Penguins in the conference final in 2016, missed the playoffs last year and, after acquiring Ryan McDonagh and J.T. Miller at the trade deadline, the pressure is on to go all the way.

As Cooper said before Game 1 of the conference final, “Personally, I just look at the window as 2017-18. That’s our window … coming into this season, we wanted to raise the Stanley Cup over our heads.”

With so much on the line, both Trotz and Cooper have so far done a masterful job of rolling with the punches and turning a back-and-forth series into a chess match.

After losing at home in games 1 and 2, Cooper juggled the forward lines, replacing Miller with Ondrej Palat on the top line with Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov. The big change came in matchups, with Cedric Paquette’s line — not Brayden Point’s — gaining the upper hand on Washington’s high-powered trio of Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Tom Wilson.

It worked, as the Lightning won games 3 and 4 on the road and then took a 3-2 lead at home in Game 5. Of course, Trotz has been just as diligent in his use of Xs and Os.

The Capitals’ strategy in Game 6 was to run the Lightning out of the building and out-hit their opponents — which they did 39-19 — in a punishing display that tied the series 3-3. What’s in store for Game 7? Who knows?

But keep an eye on the coaches’ lips after the game. They just might reveal who has a job next season.