The Tampa Bay Lightning suffered a blow losing defenseman Anton Stralman with a broken leg bone last week and now the injury bug has struck again, as GM Steve Yzerman announced on Saturday that center Steven Stamkos will be out 1-3 months with a blood clot in his arm.
Stamkos will have vascular surgery on Monday and is expected to make a full recovery, but with his status as a pending unrestricted free agent, it is possible that the superstar center has played his last game for the Lightning.
Statement from Steven Stamkos. pic.twitter.com/jdsHyUCg9M
— Jonas Siegel (@jonassiegel) April 3, 2016
Yzerman indicated that he may recall forward Jonathan Drouin, who has 10 goals in 16 games for the Syracuse Crunch.
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The Pittsburgh Penguins are one of the hottest teams in the NHL, in spite of Evgeni Malkin being out, but now have to play on without goalie Marc-Andre Fleury.
Fleury suffered his second concussion of the season in a 5-2 victory over Nashville and did not make the trip to Brooklyn for the Penguins afternoon match against the Islanders.
Prized Pittsburgh rookie Matt Murray should get the bulk of the work for the final five regular season games and could be the go-to guy in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, depending on how long it takes Fleury to recover.
more to come