Tampa Bay Lightning F Brayden Point Feeling Better, But Not Cleared To Play
Tampa Bay Lightning forward Brayden Point seems to be feeling better but hasn’t yet been cleared to take the ice with his teammates.
It has almost become a standing joke this season when it comes to the Tampa Bay Lightning and injuries. There was a point in the season where the team was steadily losing more players than they were getting back on any given night. The seemingly never-ending string of injuries led to chaos within the Lightning lineup.
While there are a plethora of injuries that have had an impact on the Lightning’s lineup, the Bolts were particularly stymied when Lightning forward Brayden Point was sidelined 4-6 weeks with an Upper Body Injury. Before being sidelined with his injury, Brayden Point was on a pretty decent hot streak.
In the five games before being sidelined, Point had brought home a goal and three assists for a total of four points. Until this point, the 20-year-old Lightning forward had played in 36 games with the Tampa Bay Lightning. In that amount of time, Point was able to bring home three goals and 12 assists for a total of 15 points.
Tampa Bay Lightning
Now, we find ourselves just outside four weeks from Point’s injury. The question on top of everyone’s mind is when Point will be ready to rejoin his teammates on the ice. According to Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times, Point plans to talk to trainers tomorrow about his status. Smith says Point feels better, but we’ll have to see how things play out.
Smith also had an opportunity to talk to Tampa Bay Lightning Head Coach Jon Cooper about Point. In typical Coach Cooper fashion, he wasn’t exactly giving with the details; however, he did say Point has not yet been cleared to play.
Unfortunately, what all of this really boils down to is Lightning fans won’t have any real answers on the status of Brayden Point until some point tomorrow afternoon. Everything really sits in the hands of the trainers right now. If they feel he’s well enough to play, more than likely he’ll make his way back into the lineup.
As much as we would love for Brayden Point to make his way back into the lineup, the very last thing we want is for him to return to the ice before he is 100 percent. Rushing back too soon can cause irreparable damage and could potentially ruin a person’s career.
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It will definitely be interesting to see how things play out tomorrow. No matter how the present situation works out, there is one thing we know for sure. The Tampa Bay Lightning are running out of time to make their move. If they don’t make their move soon, they will find themselves out of the playoff picture before it’s even begun.