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Ondrej Palat out up to 5 weeks, big blow for struggling Lightning
The Tampa Bay Lightning are used to early season tests when it comes to losing a key player.
Please recall Victor Hedman’s injury last season; they weathered that storm and ended up playing for the Stanley Cup.
Hedman is healthy, and currently their leading scoring, which is an entirely different issue we’ll touch on shortly. The test this season comes from the loss of winger Ondrej Palat, who will miss up to five weeks with a lower body injury, specifically his ankle.
From Erik Erlendsson of the Tampa Tribune:
Palat was injured in the second period when Wild forward Nino Niederreiter lost his balance while in the crease around the Lightning net and fell awkwardly on top of Palat’s left leg. As Niederreiter fell, he pinned Palat’s left leg to the ice. Palat was wearing a low cut walking boot after the game.
The injury comes as the Lightning are scuffling in the early part of the season. Since starting out with a 3-0 record, Tampa Bay has gone 4-7-2 and is struggling to find its offensive game. Heading in to Tuesday’s game against Buffalo, the Lightning have been held to fewer than two goals six times in the past eight games, including being shutout three times.
The Lightning are currently No. 22 in the NHL at 2.38 goals per game.
Their offense is sputtering to the point that coach Jon Cooper blew up the heralded Triplets Line, with Palat leaving partner Tyler Johnson and playing up with Steven Stamkos and Ryan Callahan.
"Our identity as a team is coming together in a different way than it did last year, we're trying to find that chemistry,” said Cooper.
Palat had 63 points in 75 games last season, including 11 on the power play. This season, he had two goals and five assists in 16 games.
The Lightning continued to scramble their lines, with Stamkos now flanked by Valtteri Filppula and Jonathan Drouin.
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Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.
