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Quick Strikes: Moments from Tampa Bay’s first day in Sweden

Victor Hedman is having a lot of fun in his home country!

By HardevLad

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HOCKEY: MAY 21 IIHF World Championship Gold Medal Game - Canada v Sweden
COLOGNE, GERMANY - MAY 21: #77 Victor Hedman (SWE) celebrates the win over Canada during the Ice Hockey World Championship Gold medal game between Canada and Sweden at Lanxess Arena in Cologne, Germany, on May 21, 2017.
Photo by Robert Hradil/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

The Bolts (in Sweden!)

The Tampa Bay Lightning are in Sweden for the week ahead of their Global Series matches against the Buffalo Sabres. Here’s Jon Cooper’s thoughts after the first practice on Sunday.

Victor Hedman, who has been leading the team in sightseeing and appreciation of Stockholm is currently injured, but is doing literally everything he can in order for him to get the chance to play in front of his literal home fans. I’m rooting for him. [NHL dot com]

“It’s obviously been a long day flying in from New York,” Hedman said. “As soon as you saw land and you start making that approach, you feel right at home. I’m super excited to be back in Sweden and looking forward to the games.”

Swedish Candy??? GIMME!!!

Alex Killorn will be keeping a travel journal during his team’s trip to Sweden. It’s a great read! [NHL dot com]

I’ve never been to Sweden before, and I’m really excited to experience what it has to offer. A lot of guys on our team have been here before because the World Championships were here a few years earlier. I’ve heard so much about this city. Victor Hedman talks about it a lot, and he is very proud. We are excited to explore a bit, which we haven’t gotten a chance to do yet because we literally got to the hotel and came here for a short practice.

Pics from Sweden!

In non-Sweden news, the Lightning are still struggling to get over past playoff woes. This Athletic blog is ad-blocked.

The Prospects

Luke Witkowski was waived by the Lightning on Saturday and cleared yesterday. He will now report to the Syracuse Crunch. He played on the blue line on Sunday and that’s where he’s expected to stay. Here is the roster article Justin wrote up following the news. [Raw Charge]

This move shouldn’t be much of a surprise. While Witkowski did bring some nice flexibility to the roster by being able to play forward and defense, he was not exactly getting the job done on the ice. While he has recorded a goal and two assists, he has been near or at the bottom of the possession statistics for the whole season among the entirety of the Lightning roster. He has also been at the bottom in terms of TOI per game at 8:48.

The Syracuse Crunch lost to the Hershey Bears over the weekend. Justin once again had the details in his recap. It’s, as always, a great read despite the loss. [Raw Charge]

For the first time since November of 2017, the Syracuse Crunch failed to register a point in a game in November as they fell 4-2 to the Hershey Bears on Sunday. Spencer Martin stopped 20 of 23 shots in his Crunch debut while Danick Martel and Ross Colton provided the offense for Syracuse.

Trace took some great shots from the game and has them available on her Flickr account.

After the Louis Domingue trade, Scott Wedgewood has a bigger opportunity to get some starts in.

Meanwhile, the Orlando Solar Bears have re-signed a goalie for their roster.

The Game

On Saturday, Milan Lucic attacked a player on the Columbus Blue Jackets for literally no reason He’s gotten a two-game suspension. That’ll show him. [NHL dot com]

The Washington Nationals showed up at the Washington Capitals game and definitely had a fun time.

Check out these cool jerseys!!!

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