With the lower-body injury to Jonas Johansson lingering, and a back-to-back on the road looming, the Tampa Bay Lightning recalled Matt Tomkins from the Syracuse Crunch. This will be the 26-year-old’s second stint with the Lightning this season. He began the season in Tampa, serving as Johansson’s back-up while Andrei Vasilevskiy was on injured reserve.
Since returning to Syracuse, Tomkins appeared in 29 games, posting a 15-12 record with a 2.53 GAA and .904 SV%, helping the Crunch reach the top of the standings in the North Division. The Crunch are off until Friday, so he won’t be missing any games until the weekend. Just in case Johansson isn’t ready to back-up by then, Syracuse added Brandon Halverson from Orlando to back-up Hugo Alnefelt.
In his first go with the Lightning, Tomkins appeared in 3 games, picking up a win and posting a 3.40 GAA and .889 SV%. He’s likely to get the start on Thursday against the Montreal Canadians if he stays on the roster.
This was an emergency recall by the Lightning so it won’t count against their 4-recall limit that the league implements following the trade deadline.
The official press release:
TAMPA BAY – The Tampa Bay Lightning have added goaltender Matt Tomkins on emergency recall from their American Hockey League affiliate the Syracuse Crunch, vice president and general manager Julien BriseBois announced today.
Tomkins, 29, made his NHL debut this season with the Lightning on October 15, making 33-of-37 saves in a loss at Ottawa. He earned his first career NHL victory in a 5-3 win at Montreal on November 7 after stopping 23 of the 26 shots he faced. In three starts this season with the Bolts, Tomkins is 1-2-0 with a 3.40 goals-against average and .889 save percentage.
The 6-foot-4, 191-pound Edmonton native has played in 29 games for the Crunch this season, posting a 15-12-2 record with a 2.53 GAA and .904 save percentage. He earned his first career AHL shutout in his last start after making all 30 stops in a 4-0 Syracuse victory over the visiting Providence Bruins March 30.
Tomkins leads all Crunch goalies for games, wins and save percentage. Tomkins was a seventh-round selection (199th overall) of the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2012 NHL Draft. The Lightning signed Tomkins to a two-year, two-way contract on May 10, 2023.
