BRANDON — As the Lightning returned to practice to prepare for their first-round playoff series against the Panthers, so did defenseman Victor Hedman, who was sidelined for the regular season’s past two games.
The Lightning mostly had their full arsenal of players practicing at the TGH Ice Plex. Hedman and defenseman Ryan McDonagh returned after missing Saturday and Monday’s games in Florida, and forward Ondrej Palat was back on the ice after a one-game absence.
Right wing Nikita Kucherov and captain Steven Stamkos also practiced — continuing to get work on the team’s first power-play unit — and are on path to return from long-term injured reserve when the postseason begins. The only major absence is forward Barclay Goodrow, who is out indefinitely with an upper-body injury.
As for Hedman, he wouldn’t discuss whether his injury was something new or if it’s been lingering. He also didn’t want to address a Sportsnet Hockey Night in Canada report saying that Hedman was injured in a March 30 game against Columbus, has been playing through it and will require surgery at the end of the season.
![Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman, left, alongside coach Jon Cooper, wouldn’t discuss whether his injury was something new or if it’s been lingering.](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"%20viewBox="0%200%203266%202340"/%3E "Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman, left, alongside coach Jon Cooper, wouldn’t discuss whether his injury was something new or if it’s been lingering.")
“I’m not gonna speculate into injuries at this time,” Hedman said. “We’ll progress and we’re still a few days away.
“Whoever is going to be on the ice has got to be ready to go and that’s the bottom line. This is a time of year when you put a lot of things aside and you just focus on the game that’s ahead of you.”
Hedman played all of the regular season’s first 54 games before missing Saturday’s game in Florida and the season finale against the Panthers.
He awkwardly went into the boards in that March 30 game against the Blue Jackets and needed help skating off, but returned to finish the game and was second on the team in ice time with 24:03.
Since that game, Hedman has been a different player. Before it, he had 33 points in 35 games and was plus-13 while averaging 25:28 of ice time. In the 19 games after March 30, Hedman has 12 points and is minus-8 with 24:16 of average ice time.
Last season, Hedman was injured during the Lightning’s final round-robin game in the bubble. He left that game, angrily slamming his stick on the railing repeatedly on his way to the dressing room. But he returned to lead the Lightning to the Cup, winning the Conn Smythe Trophy along the way.
Asked whether Kucherov and Stamkos will be ready to return when the first-round series starts Sunday night at the BB&T Center, Lightning coach Jon Cooper was optimistic.
“We’re hoping those guys are good to go,” Cooper said. “They’re looking good now, so signs are pointing for them to be in the lineup and we hope they will be.”
No taking it easy
There was a competitive energy around the TGH Ice Plex that could not be mistaken Thursday.
Not from the mostly full complement of roster players. And not from the taxi squad that practiced ahead of the official start, then later joined the main group’s two power play units on the other sheet for additional work.
As practice continued, the intensity increased. Players skated harder and played more aggressively in their first time on the ice since Monday’s 4-0 loss against the Panthers.
“We’ll see what happens come Game 1 (at Florida on Sunday), but there’s still guys that have something to prove to one another and in our group, we want to be the best and continue to do the best,” McDonagh said.
“We know it’s not going to be easy, you need a lot of things to go right, but our group is prepared to take on that stress and that challenge and understand that if we stick together, we stick to our system and our structure and play very disciplined, that gives us the best chance for good results.”
Staff writer Mari Faiello contributed to this report.
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