UNIONDALE, NY – The Tampa Bay Lightning had no information on the health status of top scorer Nikita Kucherov, who was injured in his first shift of loss in Game 6 on Wednesday night.
The Islanders won the game 3-2 in overtime to force Game 7 on Friday night in Tampa, Florida.
“It sucks to lose Kuch so early,” said Lightning captain Steven Stamkos of Kucherov, who leads all playoffs with 27 points in 17 games. “The boys fought. We played briefly the rest of the game.”
In the first third, Kucherov was matched by New York Islanders defender Scott Mayfield in front of referee Chris Lee, who did not whistle a penalty.
Kucherov resumed his shift and tossed a check to the Islanders forward Mathew Barzal. Eventually he doubled over in pain and then left the ice for the coaching room. Kucherov didn’t return after playing just 46 seconds in the Lightning defeat, leaving the ice only 2:22 in the game.
The Tampa Bay players and coach seemed to believe that Kucherov was the cross check.
“The game on Kuch, the referee doesn’t see it. Probably a guy looking for a cheap shooter there,” said Stamkos. “In my opinion [the referees] said they didn’t think it was malicious. You have no chance of watching it repeat the way we do. “
Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said intent is not a criterion for being a penalty.
“It would be strange to say it wasn’t malicious,” Cooper said. “I don’t think the rules say that cross-checks have to be malicious. I just know that it happened very close to one of the officers and he didn’t see it.”
To add insult to injury, it was Mayfield who tied the game at 11:16 in the third period before Anthony Beauvillier ended it at 1:08 in overtime.
The Lightning who went 3-on-6 in Powerplay in Game 5 were 0-on-2 in Game 6. This included a power play with less than six minutes left in the third period, with the chance to lead.
“We were missing a player so that probably didn’t help,” said Cooper, who was otherwise pleased with how players like Anthony Cirelli helped fill the hole Kucherov left on his line with center Brayden Point – the scored a goal in his ninth straight playoff game, one just under an NHL record – and winger Ondrej Palat.
“It’s the next man. These guys, this collective group, there was no panic in the group at all,” said Cooper.
The Lightning return home from Kucherov with an unclear status. Of course, they know life without their star winger. Pre-season surgery on his hip resulted in Kucherov missing the entire regular season before returning for Game 1 of the first round.
“We’ve been on this path for four months. We won games with him and we without him,” said Cooper.
The post Tampa Bay Lightning's Nikita Kucherov was injured in the game 6 loss to the New York Islanders, status unclear first appeared on Daily Florida Press.
from Daily Florida Press https://dailyfloridapress.com/tampa-bay-lightnings-nikita-kucherov-was-injured-in-the-game-6-loss-to-the-new-york-islanders-status-unclear/
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