Tampa Bay Lightning F Jonathan Drouin Makes Return Against Buffalo Sabres
After missing seven games with an upper-body injury, Tampa Bay Lightning forward Jonathan Drouin was finally able to make his return to the ice tonight against the Buffalo Sabres.
The Tampa Bay Lightning have not received a lot of good news as of late in terms of injuries. Slowly, but surely, some of the Lightning’s most integral players are making their way to the injured list.
The latest addition to this detrimental list came on Tuesday night against the Detroit Red Wings. Tampa Bay Lightning captain Steven Stamkos took an awkward fall in the first period that would cause him to miss the remainder of the game.
Yesterday, Tampa Bay Lightning Vice President and General Manager Steve Yzerman released a press release announcing that Stamkos has suffered a lateral meniscus tear in his right knee and would be out indefinitely.
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Bolts by the Bay 1 dTampa Bay Lightning C Steven Stamkos Out Indefinitely
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The news got even grimmer this afternoon when it was announced Steven Stamkos would have to undergo surgery to repair the tear in his meniscus and would be sidelined at least four to six months. This means, even under the most ideal of circumstances, it will be at least mid-March before Stamkos is ready to make his return.
While everything as of late has reeked of doom and gloom, the Tampa Bay Lightning did receive some good news today as they prepared to take on the Buffalo Sabres. Lightning forward Jonathan Drouin would finally make his return to the ice tonight at the KeyBank Center.
Drouin has been out of action since November 1st when he sustained an upper-body injury as a result of an elbow to the head from New York Islanders defenseman Calvin de Haan. Since then, Drouin has missed seven games.
As the games continued to pile up, Lightning fans became increasingly worried the 21-year-old Lightning forward was dealing with something more serious than the team would lead one to believe. Thankfully, this turned out not to be the case.
Before going down, Drouin had played in 10 games with the Bolts this season. In that amount of time, Drouin has scored two goals and three assists for a total of five points. Now that Steven Stamkos is out of the lineup for the foreseeable future, the Lightning are going to need players like Jonathan Drouin to continue winning games.
As we mentioned before, the Tampa Bay Lightning are set to do battle with the Buffalo Sabres tonight. While the Sabres don’t look so hot on paper, the last thing you want to do is underestimate a team while they are down. It’s up to the Boys in Blue to make sure history doesn’t repeat itself tonight.
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