The Tampa Bay Lightning went with an 11/7 rotation in their 6-3 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night. One of the reasons was because forward Austin Watson was ruled out with an lower-body injury prior to the game. The organization has him listed as “week-to-week”.
Watson only played one shift in the third period in the Lightning’s game against Detroit. He left with 16:45 to go after being hooked by Daniel Sprong. There was no apparent discomfort on Watson’s part at the end of the shift, so we can’t even speculate on what the injury might be.
On the season, Watson appeared in 26 games with 2 goals and 1 assist. He averaged 6:42 per game and was third on the team in hits with 61. With his injury, the top three hitters on the team are currently out of the line-up as Tanner Jeannot (132 hits) and Erik Cernak (90 hits) are also missing time. It will be interesting to see how the Lightning, who are 7th in the league in hits with 815, continue to play a physical game.
Watson signed a PTO with the Lightning in late August after the team terminated the contract of Josh Archibald for undisclosed reasons. With a strong training camp, the 32-year-old earned a one-year contract with the Bolts.
His absence will leave the Lightning with just 12 healthy forwards on the roster, so they may recall a forward from the Syracuse Crunch this week. They have two games prior to the All-Star break, so it would be a quick recall for whichever player they bring up. The Bolts could also choose to just roll 11/7 the rest of the way and cycle in Alex Barré-Boulet and Waltteri Merelä.
Other Hockey News
Kucherov paces Lightning to 6-3 win [Raw Charge]
The game was closer than the final score indicates thanks to two empty-net goals for the Bolts, but it was a vintage Nikita Kucherov game as he recorded a hat trick and had four points on the night.
How about some Kucherov stats via Chris Krenn?
Lightning at the crossroads [The Athletic]
Joe Smith pinch hits and lays out a nice article about the Lightning at the sunset of their dynasty. The window may be coming down, but it’s not closed yet. Dang it, I miss Joe writing about the Bolts on a regular basis.
Flyers grant Hart an indefinite leave of absence [TSN]
Flyers goaltender Carter Hart has stepped away from the team for an indefinite amount of time to deal with personal issues.
New Jersey Devils extend Tom Fitzgerald [All About the Jersey]
The team has extended their general manger to a multi-year deal and added the title of president of hockey operations to his job description. That should give Fitzgerald confidence about his place with the organization heading into the trade deadline.
How do NHL teams pick their captains? [ESPN]
A longform read that’s nominally about the Canucks naming Quinn Hughes their captain despite his relative inexperience delves into how NHL teams go about picking their on-ice leader.
