Tampa Bay Lightning Recall Cory Conacher From Syracuse Crunch
The Tampa Bay Lightning have officially recalled forward Cory Conacher from the Syracuse Crunch in light of the recent injury to Nikita Kucherov.
The Tampa Bay Lightning started off their current six-game road trip tremendously by scoring a 4-1 victory over the Ottawa Senators at the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa. Unfortunately, from there, things have turned from a pleasure cruise to a crazy rollercoaster ride.
On Tuesday night, as the Tampa Bay Lightning took on their Toronto Maple Leafs, Lightning netminder Ben Bishop would get the kind of wake-up call no professional athlete wants to receive. Late in the second period, Bishop would attempt to block a shot. While he would make the save, it wasn’t quite the way he intended.
Somehow, the puck would make its way through the grating in Ben Bishop’s goalie mask and smack him square in the face. This would result in Bishop losing his two front teeth.
Tampa Bay Lightning
While we’re pretty sure he was in a fair amount of pain from then on out, Bishop was able to finish the game and help backstop the Bolts to a 7-3 victory over the Maple Leafs. So, ultimately the crisis was averted and the Lightning were able to move on to the next stop in their journey.
The Lightning made their way to the Bell Centre in Montreal on Thursday night to take on the league-leading Montreal Canadiens. After getting off to a horrendously slow start in the first period, things would go from bad to worse before the first buzzer sounded.
Late in the first period of play, Nikita Kucherov attempted to play the puck along the boards. Unfortunately, as he spun around to head back into the Lightning’s offensive zone, Kucherov lost the edge in his skate and went tumbling to the ground.
As you can probably imagine, Kucherov was already under cover from the Montreal Canadiens. Kucherov would have to think quickly if he wanted to avoid turning over the puck. Kucherov used his stick to push the puck back towards the zone, but this also left him unprotected as he slammed into the boards.
The Tampa Bay Lightning announced this afternoon that Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov has officially been listed as Day-To-Day with an Upper Body Injury. While being listed as Day-to-Day suggests Kucherov’ injury may not be substantial, it’s a pretty good sign he may not play on Saturday night as the Lightning head to the Prudential Center to take on the New Jersey Devils in their second meeting of the season.
Obviously, this means Tampa Bay Lightning Head Coach Jon Cooper is going to have to shake things up a bit heading into New Jersey. Tampa Bay Lightning Beat Writer Bryan Burns tweeted out just moments ago the team has officially recalled Cory Conacher from the Syracuse Crunch.
If Conacher has the opportunity to play on Saturday night, this will be one of the moments Lightning fans have been waiting all season for. Many Tampa Bay Lightning fans were horribly upset when Lightning Vice President and General Manager Steve Yzerman elected to trade Conacher to the Ottawa Senators in exchange for a largely untested goaltender named Ben Bishop.
Of course, almost everyone here in the Bolts Nation has learned to love Ben Bishop rather dearly, the part of us who missed Cory Conacher still continued to ache. Many fans rejoiced when Yzerman was able to sign Conacher to a one-year deal before the beginning of the season.
Many believed he would be on the main roster when the season started, but alas, he would be reassigned to the Syracuse Crunch. On the bright side, many fans knew in their hearts the moment a player was injured (not that they hoped for this, and especially not Kucherov) Conacher would be able to make his way back home.
Next: Ben Bishop Loses Two Front Teeth (Video)
While the conditions are not exactly what one would’ve hoped for, it will be nice to see if Cory Conacher gets his opportunity to take the ice with the team on Saturday night against the Devils. Given all the young talent the Lightning has on their roster right now, it could be the kind of shakeup they need to get back on track.