NEW YORK — Every team’s depth is tested throughout the postseason, and the Lightning are no exception. The deeper a team gets in its chase for the Stanley Cup, the more players battle through physical ailments to stay on the ice or return to it.
And as the Lightning try to rebound from their disappointing series-opening loss to the Rangers, they’re starting to look like an extremely thin team.
Forward Brandon Hagel gutted out 13:35 of ice time in Tampa Bay’s 6-2 loss to start the Eastern Conference final, but was clearly still battling a left leg injury he sustained while blocking a shot two weeks ago in Game 2 of a second-round sweep of the Panthers.
Hagel finished the Panthers series, but wasn’t a full participant at any practice during the Lightning’s nine-day break that followed. He didn’t participate in Thursday’s practice session at Madison Square Garden.
The beating the Lightning took from blocking shots during the Panthers series is a part of the team’s DNA in winning back-to-back Cups. At this point, players are trying to push pain aside for the benefit of the team.
In Hagel’s case — and with Brayden Point still out with an apparent right leg/hip injury — there’s a deliberate decision the Lightning have to make every game moving forward. If Hagel is not going to heal up after nine days off, it’s more about managing the injury.
“It’s a communication with the player and medical,” Jon Cooper said. “Everybody’s got to be on the same page in that regard. But we’re not going to put a player out there that we’re putting him in harm’s way ... (or) putting the team in harm’s way. So if he’s not able to get the job done, then he won’t be out there. But we’ve felt that he’s in a position to do his job and and that’s why he’s playing.”
On the other side, it’s clear that Point is trying get himself to a level where he’s able to help the Lightning this series — something that seemed unlikely after he was injured in Game 7 of the first round against Toronto.
But now that he has skated on back-to-back days shows a certain level of urgency. And the Lightning definitely need him.
When Point skated after Thursday’s practice, he looked much more confident on the ice, making more fast, hard cuts to test an injury that has sidelined him nearly three weeks. That progress comes just a day after Cooper tempered expectations that Point would return this postseason.
If Point doesn’t play, it won’t be because he and the Lightning didn’t try anything to get him back. Remember, last postseason Alex Killorn had a steel rod inserted in his leg to give a broken bone stability with the hopes he could return in the Stanley Cup Final after getting injured in Game 1.
With the Lightning down 1-0 in this series, and after realizing the Rangers will be their toughest test yet, they’ll have to play like there’s no tomorrow.
Thursday’s practice lineup, which included Riley Nash and Cole Koepke on the third line, won’t strike much fear into the New York. Up until Wednesday’s loss, the Lightning thrived in their 11 forward/seven defensemen lineup. While Cooper admitted the Lightning looked tired as the game wore on, he has no plans to go to 12 forwards any time soon.
"That was a high-intensity game in a great environment,” Cooper said. “And now we’re in it and now we’ve got that game under our belt. There should be no excuses here. We just have to show up and bring that energy we had after the first 90 seconds of the game and through the first and much of the second (periods).
“We’ve now dipped our toes in the water here in Game 1,” he added. “We better jump into the deep end here in Game 2.”
