With Mikhail Sergachev favoring his foot/ankle/lower-body the Tampa Bay Lightning were down to six healthy defensemen for their game against the Vegas Golden Knights last night. With one more game before the break, they recalled defenseman Sean Day from Syracuse a mere day after sending him down. The Holiday Roster Freeze does allow for teams to recall players from the AHL as long as they have the cap space available, which the Lightning do.
Day didn’t play during his short stint with the Bolts last week as back-up with Victor Hedman nursing an injury. Chances are he won’t get into a game this time either as long as Sergachev’s injury isn’t going to keep him out for a long time. So, the stats from last week’s post about his recall are still valid.
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Hagel’s fight inspires big win for Bolts [Raw Charge]
Kucherov had three points. Point had two goals. Nick Paul is back on his game and Vasilevskiy made the saves when they needed him to.
Raw Charge officially endorses Nikita Kucherov for Hart Trophy [For Hockey Fans]
We wrote up a little piece for the mothership about Nikita Kucherov.
11 teams reach deal with Diamond Sports Group [Awful Announcing]
Good news! At least we think it is. The Tampa Bay Lightning were one of 11 NHL teams to reach an agreement with Diamond Sports Group to ensure that they will broadcast their games through the end of the season. So Bally Sports Sun will continue to cover the Bolts for now.
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare out with leg fracture [Davy Jones’ Locker Room]
Old friend PEB will be out for awhile after breaking his leg (ouch) against the Dallas Stars the other night. It’s anticipated that he’ll miss 4-to-6 weeks.
Weird NHL Vol. 97 [YouTube]
Oh Vasy.
32 Thoughts: Trying to make sense of controversial hits in a physical league [SportsNet]
Elliotte Friedman whips around a series of topics in his weekly column. Nothing Lightning related in case you were wondering.
How the United States National Team Development Program was built [ESPN]
The Bolts have dipped into the USNTDP program a few times lately, Ryan Clark digs into how that program has changed over the last few years and started churning out some of the best prospects in the nation’s history.
Five candidates to watch for the Ottawa Senators [Daily FaceOff]
Recently dismissed coaches Dean Evason and Jay Woodcroft make the list. However, we wonder if they’re grooming Daniel Alfredsson for the role by having him as an assistant coach for the rest of this season.
Jagr debuts for Kladno Knights at age 51 [ESPN]
He played 13:44 and picked up an assist in the 4-3 loss. By playing a game in the Czech league it restarts the wait on his hall of fame waiting period.
Devils troll NHL by wearing Pride jerseys during their arrival to the arena [Advocate]
The NHL ban only applies to players on the ice, so they got around it by wearing the specially-designed sweaters as they arrived to Prudential Arena. The jerseys, created by local artist Kathryn Kennedy, will be auctioned off for charity.
