The Tampa Bay Lightning will be without a number of key players tonight as they face off against the Florida Panthers. Both teams are dealing with a long list of injuries heading into the matchup.
The Lightning were missing seven key players in Wednesday’s loss to the Rangers, including blue-line anchors Victor Hedman and Ryan McDonagh.
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McDonagh was placed on injured reserve alongside Dominic James, who took a puck to the right side of his face. Brandon Hagel also took another hit to the head three shifts into Wednesday’s game and never returned.
Jon Cooper confirmed pregame that Hagel will be out for Saturday’s game in Sunrise.
“It could be tomorrow (at home against Vancouver). It could be a month from tomorrow,” Cooper said of Hagel.
“If we’re going in order of coming back, I would say those two (Cirelli and Hedman) and Hags are probably in the next little bit of hopefully coming back. I’m not throwing everything into tomorrow, but we’ve got Tuesday against New Jersey, so hopefully we get some traction there.”
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Cooper added that he expects Pontus Holmberg, Nick Paul, and McDonagh to return soon after. James will be able to rejoin the lineup once he’s cleared by doctors.
With the injury list growing, Scott Sabourin, Jakob Pelletier and Boris Katchouk were called up this week from the Syracuse Crunch.
Puck drop is at 5 p.m.
