Victor Hedman, Erik Cernak injuries leave Lightning blue line shorthanded
TORONTO — As the Lightning walked into the visitors locker room following their 7-3 win over the Maple Leafs in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference first-round series Tuesday, defenseman Victor Hedman stood in street clothes while leading the fist-bump welcome line.
Hedman, defenseman Erik Cernak and forward Mikey Eyssimont left the game with injuries and didn’t return, forcing the Lightning to close out the final 24:40 shorthanded, especially on the blue line with just four healthy defensemen.
Hedman, who ranked second on the team in average ice time during the regular season, skated just nine shifts (6:35), his last one coming with 1:51 left in the first period. He came out before the second period and skated around, testing what appeared to be a lower-body injury, then returned to the locker room.
Coach Jon Cooper said he couldn’t provide much of an update on Hedman.
“Honestly, that one was a little bit surprising,” Cooper said of the injury. “We are hoping he should be OK, but it’s way too early to tell. This is one of those, ‘Let’s wake up tomorrow and see what’s going on,’ and then we can give you some sort of report.”
Cernak was leveled by an illegal hit to the head from Toronto forward Michael Bunting with 4:20 left in the second period. He logged 9:27 of ice time. Bunting received a five-minute major and an automatic ejection from a match penalty and faces a potential suspension. He had a hearing scheduled today with the Department of Player Safety.
Lightning defenseman Mikhail Sergachev logged a team-high 26:23 of ice time. Rookie defenseman Darren Raddysh, who was making his postseason debut, took on more of the workload, filling Hedman’s spot on the second power-play unit and had a team-high 4:08 on the penalty kill. He logged a career-high 23:37 of ice time.
“As a forward, you’re just making sure you’re getting the puck out, not having those guys spend too much time in their zone battling,” said center Brayden Point. “It’s always tough to see guys go down. But I think the guys that were in the game did a great job stepping up.”
Eyssimont, also making his postseason debut, came off the ice with 6:16 left in the second. He was wobbly when getting back to his feet after taking an open-ice hit from Maple Leafs defenseman Jake McCabe. The Lightning were already down to 12 healthy forwards with Tanner Jeannot (right leg injury) considered day to day.
Familiar faces
Captain Steven Stamkos not only won a Stanley Cup with Toronto defenseman Luke Schenn when the latter was with the Lightning in 2020, but they were world juniors teammates for Canada. Their friendship runs deep.
“He’s obviously a very close friend of mine,” Stamkos said. “A lot of great memories together. … He’s a guy that you want on your team, especially at this time of the year. … Unfortunately, he’s not on our side this time around. I don’t know if there will be many messages going back and forth until this series is over. But (he is) a guy we obviously respect a lot.”
Forward Pat Maroon won a Cup with Toronto center Ryan O’Reilly while both were with the Blues in 2019.
“It’s going to be weird,” Maroon said of facing O’Reilly in the series. “We won together, and he’s honestly my best friend. I’m just happy to get an opportunity to play in his home city and get an opportunity to play in front of his family and friends. It’s always neat.”
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