With 2023 in the rearview mirror, the Tampa Bay Lightning turned their attention to a three-game road trip against some tough opponents.
Making things more difficult is the fact they lost top-four defenseman Mikhail Sergachev to a lower-body injury prior to the NHL’s Christmas break.
Joining him on the sideline in recent days were blue-liners Erik Cernak and Haydn Fleury. Both were injured in the Lightning’s win over the Montreal Canadiens on New Year’s Eve.
Head coach Jon Cooper originally was optimistic regarding Sergachev being available sometime between Christmas and New Year’s. While he is on the current road trip, he was moved from the active roster to Injured Reserve (IR) on January 3.
Both Cernak and Fleury aren’t on the trip, with Fleury placed on Long Term Injured Reserve (LTIR) to open up enough cap space to recall Philippe Myers from AHL Syracuse. Cernak is considered day-to-day, but considering the hit he took from Canadiens forward Josh Anderson and his history of concussions, it’s not a surprise that the team elected to play it safe with him.
Unfortunately, the injuries on the back end, coupled with the Lightning’s salary cap woes, forced the team to get creative when it came to setting their lineup for Tuesday night’s game in Winnipeg. They ended up going with 13 forwards and five defensemen.
If Wednesday’s practice was any indication, with Sergachev not on the ice and subsequently placed on IR, the team could be forced to ice the same lineup Thursday night against the Minnesota Wild. Another option would be for them to play a man short so that they could use one of their emergency recalls before ending the road trip against the Atlantic Division-leading Boston Bruins on Saturday night.
The first game against the Western Conference leading Winnipeg Jets started out well, with all of those available simplifying their game and making sure they were making the right play. It worked for the most part, but a third-period turnover ended up being the dagger in a 4-2 setback.
Can the Lightning find a way to overcome the first real challenge of this season? There’s no way to answer that now, but the results of these next few games will go a long way in not only providing answers to this question but also in determining whether this team has the mental toughness to overcome adversity and make a legitimate playoff push.
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