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.
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