Tampa Bay Lightning Recall Byron Froese From The Syracuse Crunch
The Tampa Bay Lightning has once again made the call to their AHL affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch, and recalled forward Byron Froese to the Lightning lineup.
The Tampa Bay Lightning continues to deal with injuries, even at this late point in the season. As most Lightning fans know, on Mar. 9 the Lightning was involved in an intense battle with the Western Conference leading Minnesota Wild. Unfortunately, the Lightning’s victory came at the loss of three Lightning centers.
Over the course of one 60-minute hockey game, the Lightning lost forwards Vladislav Namestnikov, Tyler Johnson, and Cedric Paquette. Each of these players would eventually be listed as Day-To-Day with Lower-Body Injuries, and all three of them would be forced to sit on the sidelines on Mar. 11 against the Lightning’s in-state rivals, the Florida Panthers.
When the Tampa Bay Lightning faced off with the New York Rangers on Monday night, Vladislav Namestnikov would return to the lineup; however, his return would be short-lived. By the third period of play, Namestnikov had re-aggravated his injury and would not return to the game.
Tampa Bay Lightning
After the Lightning defeated the Ottawa Senators in an exciting overtime period, the Lightning would elect to re-assign forward Byron Froese to the Lightning’s American Hockey League affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch. Obviously, the first thought on everyone’s mind is someone must be close to making a return to the ice.
Unfortunately, the team may not be as healthy as they would have initially hoped. First thing this morning, the Tampa Bay Lightning made their call to the Syracuse Crunch and recalled forward Byron Froese to the Lightning lineup.
While many here in the Bolts Nation would like to get players like Johnson, Namestnikov, and Paquette back into the lineup, Froese is definitely a suitable substitution for any of the aforementioned players.
Tonight will serve as the third game this season for the young Byron Froese. Unfortunately, he has yet to translate his tremendous talent to the scoresheet. On the other hand, his numbers in the American Hockey League speak for themselves.
Before making his way to the Syracuse Crunch as a part of the trade involving former Lightning forward Brian Boyle, Froese played in 48 games with the Toronto Maple Leafs’ AHL affiliate, the Toronto Marlies. In this amount of time, Froese scored 24 goals and 15 assists for a total of 39 points.
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When you add in the two goals and an assist he’s scored in the two games he’s played with the Syracuse Crunch in the two games he’s played so far this season, Froese has a total of 26 goals and 16 assists for a total of 42 points. These numbers place him in third place in the AHL in goals scored.
The Tampa Bay Lightning has a very tough task in front of them tonight. Much like the Lightning, the Toronto Maple Leafs are a very young team with the same kind of speed and aggression. Add in the talents of a veteran like Brian Boyle and the Maple Leafs are ready to make a stand.
The Lightning is just one point out from one of the two Wild Card spots in the Eastern Conference; however, Toronto is just one point behind the Lightning in the very same standings. It will be critical for the Lightning to shut things down in regulation tonight to prevent Toronto from gaining any ground.
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The road may be long and filled with obstacles, but the journey is nothing the Lightning hasn’t faced before. If the Lightning continues to play the way they have over the course of the last month or so, they should find themselves in a pretty solid position heading into the final weeks of the 2016-17 season.