More injury news came out of the Tampa Bay Lightning’s practice this morning. While Ondrej Palat and Alex Killorn appear ready to return to the line up on Friday, Tyler Johnson’s status is now in question. With Palat and Killorn looking better, the Lightning sent Joel Vermin and Michael Bournival back to Syracuse yesterday.
With the questions lingering around the forward corps’ health, the team and Steve Yzerman announced the recall of Erik Condra. Condra has been up and down with the team this season. After playing in 54 games with 11 points last season with the Lightning, Condra was pushed out of the line up to start the season. That was partly the rise of Brayden Point.
Condra however has not been the first choice for a forward recall. He is one of nine different forwards that the Lightning have called up from the Syracuse Crunch over the course of the year. This is eight call-up of the season and he has played in 11 games for the Lightning with no points. With the Crunch, he has been one of their top wingers with 26 points in 29 games. His AHL production is what you would expect of a player of his NHL experience.
I would expect that Condra will be up for a short time as the Lightning head into the bye week after a back-to-back on the road with the Minnesota Wild and the Winnipeg Jets. If the injury news gets better, he could be headed back to Syracuse as early as Saturday. Otherwise, he could head back Sunday after the Lightning finish their game in Winnipeg. On the other hand, Yzerman could reward the veteran forward with a break by keeping him on the roster through the bye week.
