Lightning conveniently announce injury to Cernak immediately before Michael Bunting's hearing with Player Safety
After a rousing 7-3 victory last night, Jon Cooper announced some lineup changes ahead of Game 2, which is scheduled to take place tomorrow night.
For starters, star defenseman, Victor Hedman left the game last night late in the first period after only skating 6:35 TOI. He tried testing it out ahead of the second period but he was unable to return with what was deemed a lower-body injury.
Another important defenseman for the Lightning, Erik Cernak, was ruled out for tomorrow's game, alongside forward Mikey Eyssimont. Cernak was the recipient of the hit that led to the 5-minute major from Michael Bunting. He logged only 9:27 TOI and left the game with a shade over 4 minutes left in the second period.
Mikey Eyssimont who made his playoff debut last night, left the game late in the second period as well after taking a hit from Jake McCabe. Fortunately for the Lightning, they might have Tanner Jeannot ready for next game as Cooper was quoted as saying there is a "possibility".
Jeannot who was the prize of the trade deadline for Tampa Bay, was injured in their 4th-last game of the season and remained out for the first game of the post-season with a lower-body injury. He was acquired for 5 picks and regressed heavily after a 24-goal season last year with the Nashville Predators. However his physical brand of hockey is tailor-made for the post-season and what is likely going to be a physical series with the Leafs.
He seems to be raring to go, however, stating "I'm feeling really good, just got to wait and see I guess but, yes, everything is feeling really good and trainers did a great job and feeling good on the ice so we'll see."
As for Cernak, it was announced that he would miss the second game of the series only 45 minutes before Bunting's hearing with the NHL's Player Safety department. This could be seen as a tactic to get Bunting an extra game tacked onto his suspension with how the NHL views dangerous hits and subsequent injuries. Key word being "could", but if that was Cooper's intention, then it was a pretty sneaky chess move from the veteran head coach.
Nevertheless, the physical attrition of the playoffs have already hit the Lightning as they could be without 2 key defensemen and a depth forward or two for the second game of the series - something that the Maple Leafs would like to take full advantage of as they look to even things up tomorrow before heading to Florida for Games 3 and 4.
