Steven Stamkos listed as day-to-day with Lower-Body Injury
Tampa Bay Lightning captain Steven Stamkos has once again been listed as day-to-day with a Lower Body Injury.
The Tampa Bay Lightning simply has no luck when it comes to injuries; especially as they prepare for the final three games of the regular season. It is getting to the point where they are trading off injured players every time you turn around.
Unfortunately, the news coming out of the Bolts Nation this evening is no April Fool’s Day joke. It seems the Lightning will be forced to enter into one of their most important games remaining in their regular season schedule without the assistance of their captain.
The Tampa Bay Lightning announced this evening captain Steven Stamkos is once again considered to be day-to-day with a Lower Body Injury. One could easily assume this is the same “nagging” injury which forced him to miss the game on March 26 against the Arizona Coyotes. Of course, there has been no confirmation of this.
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Now, while this may seem like a lot of doom and gloom heading into a game against a team like the Boston Bruins, rest assured, this is not the end of the world. According to Tampa Bay Lightning Head Coach Jon Cooper, Stammer isn’t expected to miss any serious time and, as of this moment, there is no indication he would be ill-prepared to rejoin the lineup when the postseason kicks off.
The best thing the Lightning can do at this point is to allow Stamkos to sit back and relax. Give the captain a game or two off and allow his body to properly rest and recuperate. Then, providing he is ready, add him back to the Lightning lineup against the Carolina Hurricanes in the last game of the season to give him some playing time before the first round of the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs start.
The Tampa Bay Lightning has plenty of top-tier talent at their disposal. While it is always good to have all the key pieces to your offense in the lineup, missing a singular piece to the puzzle is not going to spell the end of the world for a team; especially not when you have as many talented forwards as the Bolts do.
Tomorrow night, the Lightning faces a truly difficult challenge. The Bolts will open the doors to the Amalie Arena to take on the team who has had their number all season long. Even more importantly, the outcome of tomorrow night’s contest could very well determine the Bolts positioning at the end of the season.
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When you add in the fact the Boston Bruins are slowly getting back the pieces they were missing over the course of the last few encounters, they pose an even bigger threat to the Lightning. The simple fact of the matter is the Lightning will need to remain focused, come out strong, and play a consistent 60 minutes of hockey if they want to bring home the two points against the Bruins.