Tampa Bay Lightning center Vladislav Namestnikov heads to the locker room after being blindsided by New York Rangers left wing Tanner Glass.
The Tampa Bay Lightning knew coming into tonight’s encounter they were going to be fighting an uphill battle. Nonetheless, the Tampa Bay Lightning charged into Madison Square Garden in the hopes of bringing home a victory against the New York Rangers.
Before puck drop tonight, it announced the Tampa Bay Lightning would be coming into this contest without the assistance of Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman and alternate captain Ryan Callahan thanks to injuries sustained on Monday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn in the Lightning’s 5-2 loss to the New York Islanders.
The Tampa Bay Lightning went up 2-0 on the New York Rangers before the halfway point in the first period. After this, it seemed as if the Rangers – who are dealing with some injury issues of their own – decided to take a couple of runs at Lightning players. During a media timeout, Lightning center Alex Killorn would make his way to the locker room with an unknown injury. Not long after, he would be joined by Vladislav Namestnikov.
If you are a Tampa Bay Lightning fan who witnessed the incident first hand, there is a pretty good chance you are just as ticked off as Tampa Bay Lightning Head Coach Jon Cooper. In case you didn’t have an opportunity to witness what happened, allow us to paint a picture for you.
Vladislav Namestnikov is playing the puck in the center of the ice when he passes the puck away. Rangers left wing Tanner Glass makes a run at Namestnikov on his blindside and absolutely nailed Namestnikov in the head. As you can imagine, Namestnikov’s head jerked in a whiplash motion as he tumbled to the ground.
Namestnikov was able to make his way off the ice under his own power, but rather than making his way back to the Lightning bench, Namestnikov went directly back to the Tampa Bay Lightning locker room. There has been no word as to the degree of Namestnikov’s injury (if any) as the buzzer sounded to end the first period.
After Coach Cooper shouted quite a few words at the referees after the hit, Tanner Glass was hit with a five-minute major for Interference and a Game Misconduct Penalty. We would be lying to you if we told you we didn’t think this one will be closely examined by the NHL Department of Player Safety tomorrow morning. If Player Safety deems the head the principle point of contact, Glass could be looking at a couple of games.
Next: Victor Hedman Day-to-Day with Upper Body Injury
The Tampa Bay Lightning has been shaken to the core with injuries as of late, but with only three more games remaining in the regular season (including tonight’s encounter with the New York Rangers) and only being one point out of the postseason, the Lightning will have no option but to continue to fight. It’s definitely going to be an uphill battle, but if any team has the depth to get the job done, it’s the Tampa Bay Lightning.
UPDATE: Vladislav Namestnikov was able to return to the Tampa Bay Lightning lineup at the start of the second period.