The Tampa Bay Lightning recall forward Matthew Peca from the Syracuse Crunch amidst the injuries to some of the centers recently. Tampa Bay is short three centers after losing them Thursday.
After losing three key centers to injury Thursday night against the Minnesota Wild, the Tampa Bay Lightning will try to move forward with what they have. This morning the team recalled forward Matthew Peca from the Syracuse Crunch for some help at the position.
Peca is a center and will fill a much-needed role for the Lightning at the moment. Centers Vladislav Namestnikov, Tyler Johnson and Cedric Paquette each went down with an injury (in that order) against the Wild, and all of them are considered day-to-day with lower-body injuries.
Namestnikov went down with a knee injury after getting tangled up with Minnesota Alternate Captain Zach Parise, and he lay faced down on the ice for nearly a minute, it seemed, until the team trainers came over to assist him. It appeared more serious than at first glimpse, but Namestnikov is considered day-to-day like the others.
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Johnson also went down with what appeared to be a knee injury following a knee-on-knee collision with Wild forward Nino Niederreiter during the second period of Thursday’s game. After taking a look back on the collision, it appears Niederreiter did it intentionally, especially since it was a late hit and the puck had already moved down the ice. The officials didn’t make a call, though, and the play continued with Johnson down on the ice, writhing in pain.
The officials didn’t make a call, though, and the play continued with Johnson down on the ice, writhing in pain.
He would have to leave the game after being helped off the ice by some of his teammates and is considered day-to-day as well. That wouldn’t be it, though, as another center would exit the game later on.
Paquette, who is also a center, left Thursday’s game with a lower-body injury. After getting his stick knocked out of his hands, he meandered over the front of the net with all sorts of action going on in front of goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy. Paquette proceeded to grab hold of Nino Niederreiter and brought him down on top of him to the ice. His leg appeared to get caught under him from the momentum of the fall and what resulted looked like a nasty injury overall.
Paquette proceeded to grab hold of Nino Niederreiter and brought him down on top of him to the ice. His leg appeared to get caught under him from the momentum of the fall and what resulted looked like a nasty injury overall.
Paquette had to be helped off the ice as well, and the Tampa Bay Lightning lost another center to injury on the same night.
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Fortunately, the Lightning has some players in the AHL who can fill in when needed, and Peca was recalled to do just that. In addition, forward Yanni Gourde is also with the team to help fill the void left by the three injured centers.
This isn’t Peca’s first stint with the Tampa Bay Lightning this season, as the 23-year-old center previously played in nine games with the team and scored a goal and an assist to go along with a minus-3 rating. He was sent down in mid-January and is now back with the Lightning for an unspecified amount of time (or until at least one of the forwards return to action).
In 53 games with the Crunch this season, Peca has scored eight goals and notched 22 assists, and, hopefully, he can bring some of that production with him as he fills in for the Lightning.
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Matthew Peca will likely slot in on the third or fourth lines, though that will be determined closer to puck drop this evening, and his services will be valuable, as the Tampa Bay Lightning and their fans wait to receive further information on the injuries to Namestnikov, Johnson, and Paquette. The Lightning are still in the midst of a tough playoff race, and they’ll need all they can get for this crucial stretch in the season.