The Tampa Bay Lightning have forced our hand into taking a break from our Tampa Bay Rays coverage to bring you this breaking news. The team has announced the recall of goaltender Eddie Pasquale from the Syracuse Crunch. With just four road games left in the regular season, the team announced that Louis Domingue is day-to-day with a lower-body injury necessitating the recall of Pasquale. The Lightning have also signed goaltender Corbin Boes to a Professional Try-Out for the Syracuse Crunch.
Additionally, the Lightning announced that Victor Hedman is officially day-to-day with an upper body injury. This announcement was expected after he was injured at the end of the first period on Saturday night against the Washington Capitals. The Lightning already have Cameron Gaunce up from the Crunch as the 7th defenseman, but also have Anton Stralman close to returning as well.
Pasquale has had a solid year for the Crunch in the AHL. He was originally acquired at the trade deadline in 2017-18 and played in 15 games for the Crunch with a 1.72 GAA and .938 SV%. He re-signed with the Lightning to remain with the Crunch for the 2018-19 season. In 43 games, he has a 2.37 GAA and .916 SV% to go along with a 25-12-6 record. His 25 wins are tied for 4th in the AHL while he is tied for 12th in save percentage.
Pasquale also made his NHL debut earlier in the season with the Lightning while Andrei Vasilevskiy was injured. He played in a back-to-back against the Detroit Red Wings and won in the shootout for a 6-5 victory. With a back-to-back today and tomorrow, it’s quite possible that Pasquale will play one of these two games especially since the Lightning have little to gain from either game as they’ve already clinched the President’s Trophy.
Corbin Boes is a 25 year old goaltender in his first season as a professional, playing in the ECHL with the Orlando Solar Bears. In 24 games, he has a 3.61 GAA and .893 SV%. Boes spent the previous four seasons playing college hockey in Canada’s USports for Dalhousie University. He spent four seasons in the WHL prior to that playing with the Brandon Wheat Kings, Lethbridge Hurricanes, and Portland Winterhawks. Connor Ingram was not an option for the Lightning to recall after it was determined by Julien BriseBois that it was best for him to remain in Orlando for the remainder of the season.
The Syracuse Crunch will likely lean on Atte Tolvanen until Pasquale’s return from the NHL. Tolvanen was signed as a NCAA free agent after finishing his senior season with Northern Michigan University. Tolvanen is also the older brother of Nashville Predators prospect Eeli Tolvanen. Tolvanen was signed to an AHL contract after Martin Ouellette broke his leg and the aforementioned conversation between BriseBois and Ingram failed to overcome the internal matters that led to Ingram’s initial demotion to the ECHL. In his first two games with the Crunch, Tolvanen has gone 1-1-0 allowing five goals with a .907 SV%.
