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As the series shifts to Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, with the New York Islanders and Tampa Bay Lightning deadlocked in a 1-1 series, both teams might be ready to add a once injured talent back to their wings.
For the Isles, it’s
Josh Bailey. Injured in New York’s Game 6 victory in the first round, and out of action for the opening two games of the series, Bailey looks like a go for tonight’s pivotal Game 3 tilt. In the lineup in place of Ryan Strome, Bailey comes into this game with one assist and 10 shots on goal in six postseason contests, and has has five goals and 12 points in 23 career games against the Bolts.
And for the Lightning, one of
Erik Condra, injured in a scary-looking hit in Game 1, or Mike Blunden (upper-body), could be back in action for Jon Cooper’s group for tonight’s contest.
If one of these guys come back, it’ll be on a line with
Vladdy Namestnikov and
Jonathan Marchessault on the fourth line, and force the Bolts to ditch their previous 11-forward, 7-defensemen plan they successfully went with in Game 2 at Amalie Arena. But that might be part of the plan, at least if you want to keep an inexperienced guy like Slater Koekkoek and Matt Taormina away from John Tavares, get with the benefit of last change eluding the Bolts on the road.
The big story, though, was the return of
Anton Stralman in a Tampa Bay sweater and on the ice for the first time since suffering a non-displaced fracture in his left fibula back in late March.
Stralman has still yet to take contact, so his return is not exactly imminent, but it’s a step closer.
Ben Bishop will be in net for the Bolts, while Thomas Greiss gets the call for New York.
Ty Anderson has been covering the National Hockey League for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010, has been a member of the Pro Hockey Writers Association's Boston Chapter since 2013, and can be contacted on Twitter, or emailed at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com.
Tampa Bay Lightning Blogger • 
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