After finishing off their week-long break, the Tampa Bay Lightning recall forward Gabriel Dumont from their American Hockey League affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch.
The Tampa Bay Lightning has finally come to the end of their week-long break. Now, the team is getting ready to kick off a back-to-back weekend series with an encounter against the Dallas Stars.
Prior to the Lightning’s break, the Bolts reassigned forwards Gabriel Dumont and Erik Condra to the Syracuse Crunch. At the time, it was speculated this would be a short-term situation for Dumont, as he had been playing quite well for the Lightning as of late.
The belief was his reassignment was nothing more than an opportunity for Dumont to get some ice time while the Lightning was on break. In the week the Bolts were off, the Syracuse Crunch had a date with the Albany Devils on February 15th.
Tampa Bay Lightning
Now, as the Lightning prepares to take on the Dallas Stars in their first game back from the break, it is time for the Lightning to make some moves to ensure a proper lineup on Saturday night. The Bolts have already made one of the first steps towards accomplishing this goal.
Earlier today, the Tampa Bay Lightning officially recalled forward Gabriel Dumont from the Lightning’s American Hockey League affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch. Obviously, this essentially confirms out theory Dumont’s reassignment to the Crunch was merely an opportunity to get him some playing time.
Gabriel Dumont has definitely made in impact during his time with the Tampa Bay Lightning this season. Dumont has played in 14 games with the Lightning so far this season. In that amount of time, he’s been able to score a goal and an assist for a total of two points.
It’s not really the scoresheet which has made the aforementioned impact on the team. Dumont has a knack for being a pest to the opposition, much like Lightning forward Cedric Paquette. Back on January 26th, Dumont put on quite a show as he went toe-to-toe with Florida Panthers forward Greg McKegg.
The Tampa Bay Lightning has become known for their speed and their dangerous offense. Unfortunately, one thing they have largely lacked has been grit and toughness. This is something a player like Dumont can add to the team.
As the season progresses, players like Dumont, Luke Witkowski, J.T. Brown, and Cedric Paquette are going to become all that much more important. The Lightning will be fighting tooth and nail for every possible point, and there are plenty of teams who would like to see the Bolts come up short. Sometimes, a little grit goes a long way.
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Only time will tell what the future holds for the Tampa Bay Lightning and their fans. If the Lightning can manage to work together as a team like they have over the course of the last 4-5 games, there is a good chance the Bolts will be able to make something of the season after all.