Lightning’s Hedman to miss Game 7 against Canadiens
The Tampa Bay Lightning will have to finish off their first-round series against the Montreal Canadiens without captain and star defenseman Victor Hedman.
Despite giving it another go during the team’s morning skate ahead of a decisive Game 7 on Sunday night, Hedman is not available to the Lightning, head coach Jon Cooper told reporters during his pregame media availability.
Before Game 6 on Friday, Cooper ruled Hedman out for the game, but added that Hedman was “going to be an option really soon.”
Hedman left the team in March for personal reasons, and he has not played since a 6-2 blowout victory against Vancouver on March 19.
Injuries limited Hedman to just 33 games this regular season in which he scored a goal and dished out 16 assists for 17 points while skating to a minus-1 rating on an average of 18:52 of time on ice per game.
The captain’s absence has hung over Tampa Bay for most of the series, and Cooper has addressed his timeline to return on multiple occasions. After Game 1, he deemed it “doubtful” that Hedman would be able to play in this series, though Hedman has been skating with the team.
Now, if he’s going to be a part of this postseason run, his teammates will have to find a way to win Sunday night.
The Lightning were able to force Game 7 by going into Bell Centre and emerging victorious with a 1-0 win in overtime powered by an outstanding effort from star goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy and a heroic overtime winner from Gage Goncalves.
On Sunday night in Game 7, one of these two teams will snap a playoff series win drought. The Bolts haven’t won a series since they fell in the 2022 Stanley Cup Final, and the Habs have not advanced since losing to Tampa Bay in the 2021 Stanley Cup Final.
While the Lightning are not getting a star defenseman back into the lineup, the Canadiens could, as Noah Dobson will take the warmup and is a game-time decision ahead of what would be his first game of the series.