Tampa Bay Lightning forward Tyler Johnson is making progress in his recovery, but still isn’t ready to retake the ice with his teammates on Monday night.
The Tampa Bay Lightning has suffered tremendously this season when it comes to player injuries. If Lightning fans remember correctly, there was even a point in the season where the Bolts were continually losing more players than they were getting back at any particular point in time.
As the season progressed, it seemed as if the Lightning had finally got a handle on the injury situation. Unfortunately, just as the Bolts started a major push to find themselves in a comfortable position for the postseason, the injury bug reared its ugly head once again.
Back on Nov. 9, the Tampa Bay Lightning would do battle with the then-Western Conference-leading Minnesota Wild. The Lightning would emerge victoriously in this particular contest, but it would come at quite a cost. The Bolts would lose not one, not two, but three centers to left leg injuries.
If this isn’t some unholy act of the hockey gods, we don’t know what is. It’s almost like there was some perfectly manufactured voodoo doll of the Lightning and someone had a score to settle. No matter why things played out the way they did, the Lightning had a tremendous issue to fix.
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One of the aforementioned players injured in the night’s injury debacle was Lightning forward Tyler Johnson. Unlike Vladislav Namestnikov, who has already returned to the Lightning lineup, and Cedric Paquette – whose recovery has been coming along quite nicely – Johnson is still in need of some recovering.
Tampa Bay Lightning Head Coach Jon Cooper spoke to the media following the team’s practice today at the Ice Sports Forum in Brandon. As one could easily imagine, Cooper was quickly asked about the condition of Tyler Johnson and some of the other injured players awaiting return.
While Cooper did have some encouraging words to say about Tyler Johnson and his recovery, we’re pretty certain this wasn’t the answer many Lightning fans were hoping for.
"“No. He’s progressing,” Cooper said. “So it’s encouraging that he’s progressing, but he’s not near to playing a game yet.”"
Including tomorrow night’s battle with the Chicago Blackhawks, there are only eight games left in the regular season. If Johnson is as far out as Cooper is making it sound, there is a possibility the fans may not see Tyler Johnson take the ice with his teammates again in the regular season.
The Lightning has continued to find ways to overcome in spite of the adversity placed before them, but from here on out, the Bolts are going to have to treat every single game like a Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals. A single loss could prove to be a setback they cannot come back from in such a competitive time of the season.
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It would certainly be nice to have someone like Tyler Johnson back in the lineup. The 26-year-old Spokane native has played in 64 games with the Lightning this season. In this amount of time, Johnson has managed to bring home 19 goals and 25 assists for a total of 44 points.
While having Tyler Johnson back in the lineup would definitely be beneficial to the Lightning, the very last thing any Lightning fan wants is to have him return to the lineup before he is 100 percent ready. It has been proven time and time again what kind of consequences something like this could yield.
Unfortunately, this means the Lightning must forge on without the assistance of Tyler Johnson. Next up, the Lightning faces a particularly difficult challenge as they prepare to take on the Chicago Blackhawks on Monday night at the Amalie Arena. This is the one and only time this season the Hawks will visit the Bolts Nation.
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Here’s hoping the Tampa Bay Lightning can keep momentum on their side and continue to bring home the points needed to accomplish their ultimate goal, to forge a path to the postseason and once again fight for the honor of possessing Lord Stanley’s Cup for another season.