In a season full of ups and downs ? more downs than ups ? the Lightning hit another potential dip Tuesday.
Tampa Bay captain Vinny Lecavalier is out indefinitely with a non-displaced fracture of his right hand suffered during Saturday's victory against Washington. There is no timetable for Lecavalier's return.
He was seen leaving the arena on Tuesday with a soft cast/brace on his right hand after not wearing one when speaking to the media.
With less than a week to go before the trade deadline and the Lightning attempting to get into the playoff picture, they will be without Lecavalier, the team's second-leading goal scorer, third-leading scorer and one of the top faceoff players on the team.
"Vinny is out for a while ... we have to compensate him, he's a top center man and we have nobody in our lineup that can replace that right now,'' Lightning head coach Guy Boucher said. "We just have to do it in committees, I guess.''
The injury is not considered serious enough to keep Lecavalier out for the rest of the season, but any time missed at this point of the season is a tough blow for Tampa Bay to absorb.
"It's real disappointing. It's not the time of the year that you miss. We're making a push here and playing well,'' Lecavalier said.
"It's too bad I can't help my teammates.''
While he said he was unsure of when he suffered the injury Saturday, he did take a hit late in the game and was seen getting up while shaking and flexing his right hand.
Lecavalier said he will not require any sort of surgery or procedure to repair the damage and only time is needed to heal the injury. It's been undetermined whether Lecavalier will join the team for the coming three-game trip that opens Thursday in Winnipeg, but either way he will continue to skate to maintain his conditioning.
Tampa Bay called up forwards Trevor Smith and Mike Angelidis from Norfolk to fill in the lineup in the absence of Lecavalier and Steve Downie, who was traded to Colorado earlier in the day.
Nuts and Bolts
Lightning founder Phil Esposito will leave for Russia today to take part in a celebration to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Summit Series between Canada and Russia. The event will take place over the weekend in Moscow. ? C Steven Stamkos has six multi-point games in the past 11 contests. ? C Nate Thompson played his 250th career NHL game. ? D Matt Gilroy set a career high with his 16th point of the season.
Tampa Bay captain Vinny Lecavalier is out indefinitely with a non-displaced fracture of his right hand suffered during Saturday's victory against Washington. There is no timetable for Lecavalier's return.
He was seen leaving the arena on Tuesday with a soft cast/brace on his right hand after not wearing one when speaking to the media.
With less than a week to go before the trade deadline and the Lightning attempting to get into the playoff picture, they will be without Lecavalier, the team's second-leading goal scorer, third-leading scorer and one of the top faceoff players on the team.
"Vinny is out for a while ... we have to compensate him, he's a top center man and we have nobody in our lineup that can replace that right now,'' Lightning head coach Guy Boucher said. "We just have to do it in committees, I guess.''
The injury is not considered serious enough to keep Lecavalier out for the rest of the season, but any time missed at this point of the season is a tough blow for Tampa Bay to absorb.
"It's real disappointing. It's not the time of the year that you miss. We're making a push here and playing well,'' Lecavalier said.
"It's too bad I can't help my teammates.''
While he said he was unsure of when he suffered the injury Saturday, he did take a hit late in the game and was seen getting up while shaking and flexing his right hand.
Lecavalier said he will not require any sort of surgery or procedure to repair the damage and only time is needed to heal the injury. It's been undetermined whether Lecavalier will join the team for the coming three-game trip that opens Thursday in Winnipeg, but either way he will continue to skate to maintain his conditioning.
Tampa Bay called up forwards Trevor Smith and Mike Angelidis from Norfolk to fill in the lineup in the absence of Lecavalier and Steve Downie, who was traded to Colorado earlier in the day.
Nuts and Bolts
Lightning founder Phil Esposito will leave for Russia today to take part in a celebration to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Summit Series between Canada and Russia. The event will take place over the weekend in Moscow. ? C Steven Stamkos has six multi-point games in the past 11 contests. ? C Nate Thompson played his 250th career NHL game. ? D Matt Gilroy set a career high with his 16th point of the season.
