Tampa Bay Lightning forward Brayden Point will miss 4-6 weeks after sustaining an Upper-Body Injury in the third period against the Montreal Canadiens.
Just when you think the Tampa Bay Lightning are finally beginning to make some progress towards getting their team healthy, the hockey gods come along and slash them with their ridiculously large stick and send another couple players running for the locker room.
The Lightning got some really good news before puck drop against the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night. Both Nikita Kucherov and Ondrej Palat, who had both missed multiple games with various injuries, would finally be making their way back into the lineup.
With the Triplets line finally reunited, Tampa Bay Lightning fans had hoped the Bolts would soon be back on the right track and continuing their path towards the postseason. Of course, the hockey gods had other things in mind for the ailing Lightning team.
Tampa Bay Lightning
Earlier this afternoon, Tampa Bay Lightning Beat Writer Bryan Burns announced Lightning forward Brayden Point would be forced to miss 4-6 weeks after sustaining an Upper Body Injury. Burns would go on to say Point’s injury was sustained in the third period against the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night after Point earned an assist on Ondrej Palat’s game-tying goal.
This is absolutely horrible news for the Tampa Bay Lightning. Under the absolute best of circumstances, Brayden Point will be able to return somewhere around January 31st when the Lightning take on the Boston Bruins at the Amalie Arena. Of course, this is under the most ideal of circumstances.
Ever since making his debut on Opening Night this season, Brayden Point has proven to be one of the most valuable offensive assets on the team. Point’s speed is absolutely uncanny and rivals that of Lightning forward Jonathan Drouin. In addition to this, he has tremendous puck handling skills and playmaking ability.
In the last five games, Point has brought home a goal and three assists for a total of four points. This includes a multi-point game on December 20th against the Detroit Red Wings where the 20-year-old Calgary native picked up a goal and an assist.
Point has played in 36 games with the Tampa Bay Lightning this season. In that amount of time, he has brought home three goals and 12 assists for a total of 15 points. These numbers place Point in a tie with Ondrej Palat for seventh place on the team in overall points.
There is no denying a player like Brayden Point will be missed on the ice. Unfortunately, the season forges in despite all the injured players the Lightning have on their roster at the moment. The Bolts are going to have to find a way to overcome yet another obstacle if they want to keep their win streak intact.
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The Lightning finishes off their back-to-back series tonight as they take on the Toronto Maple Leafs at 7:30 p.m. It will be very interesting to see how the team reacts in light of the injury to Brayden Point and how they plan to overcome and emerge victoriously.