Tampa Bay Lightning center Cedric Paquette was forced to leave the game on Thursday night against the Minnesota Wild after suffering a Lower-Body Injury.
The Tampa Bay Lightning just can’t seem to win for losing tonight against the Minnesota Wild when it comes to injuries. As the Lightning entered the third period of play, the Bolts had already suffered the loss of two talented centermen. Little did they know, the injury bug wasn’t quite done at the buffet.
The Lightning and the Wild had just past the halfway point in the third period of play. Much to the elation of Lightning fans, the Bolts were already up 3-0 over the Wild. Unfortunately, due to the aforementioned incidents, fans were having a bit of difficulty celebrating the team’s magnificent play.
Just after the eight-minute mark in the period, things went from bad to worse for the Bolts. The Wild were attempting to get their first goal on the board as they aggressively took the puck to the net in the Lightning zone. Near the faceoff dot, Wild alternate captain Ryan Suter would blatantly slash the stick out of the hand of Lightning center Cedric Paquette.
Tampa Bay Lightning
Paquette immediately threw his hands up in the air, waiting on the referees to do their job. Unfortunately, the referees seem to have lost their whistles in tonight’s encounter. In any case, the play would continue in the zone.
Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy would come up with some amazing saves in front of the net, but the Wild would continue to persist. Unfortunately, even without his stick (which was flung all the way behind the net), Paquette was forced to remain in on the play.
Doing just about the only thing a player without a stick can do, he attempted to get in the middle of a play and break things up a little. Unfortunately, this is where things went horribly wrong.
As you can see, Paquette attempted to get a hold of Niederreiter and pull him away from the play. At the exact same time, Niederreiter was in the middle of being face palmed by Jake Dotchin. This resulted in Paquette pulling Niederreiter down on top of him.
Unfortunately for Cedric Paquette, his foot seemed to get caught up under him as he fell to the ice. This resulted in an awkward fall and a nasty looking injury. Just look at the position Paquette’s leg is in as he makes his way to the ground. There is no realm in which this ends well for Paquette.
More From Bolts By The Bay: Tyler Johnson Has His Knee Taken Out (Video)
Paquette quickly pushed Niederreiter off of him and remained down on the ice in what looked like a considerable amount of pain. It was at this moment something seemed to snap in Lightning Head Coach Jon Cooper’s head. What in the world is he supposed to do, being down not just three forward, but three centers?
At this point and time, there has been no update from the Tampa Bay Lightning as to the extent of the injury to Cedric Paquette or any indication of how much time he’ll be forced to miss away from the ice. As with the other two injuries which occurred tonight, we hope Paquette’s injury isn’t quite as bad as it seems.
Next: Vladislav Namestnikov Leaves Game With Injury (Video)
As always, we here at Bolts By The Bay would like to extend our thoughts and prayers to Cedric Paquette. A team never wants to be without a scrappy, pesky forward like Paquette; especially at this point in the season. Here’s hoping he can make a full recovery and make his way back to the ice as quickly as possible.