Tampa Bay Lightning F Jonathan Drouin To Return Against Vancouver Canucks
Tampa Bay Lightning forward Jonathan Drouin has been cleared to make his return to the Lightning lineup tonight against the Vancouver Canucks.
The Tampa Bay Lightning have spent the first quarter of the 2016-17 season dealing with an overwhelming amount of injuries this season. Thankfully, the Lightning have gotten some rather good news ahead of their encounter with the Vancouver Canucks at the Amalie Arena later tonight.
According to Tampa Bay Lightning Beat Writer Bryan Burns, Lightning Head Coach Jon Cooper has announced that Lightning forward Jonathan Drouin will be able to make his return to the Lightning lineup tonight against Vancouver.
This is definitely good news for the Tampa Bay Lightning. Now, if the team can just resist the urge to injure themselves before the puck drops tonight, we can finally break the cycle and start the road to actual recovery.
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Bolts by the Bay 1 dTampa Bay Lightning F Jonathan Drouin Could Return Against Vancouver Canucks
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Jonathan Drouin was on the rise this season after forming an uncanny chemistry with Lightning captain Steven Stamkos. Unfortunately, Drouin’s production was stymied a bit when Stamkos suffered a lateral tear in his right meniscus which forced him to relegate himself to the sidelines until at least mid-March while he rehabs.
Despite the separation from Stamkos, Drouin is still a valuable asset to the team. His speed and puck handling skills will come in handy for a team who has struggled a bit offensively as of late.
Before being sidelined with his undisclosed injury, the 21-year-old Lightning forward played in total of 19 games with the Bolts. In that amount of time, Drouin was able to bring home three goals and seven assists for a total of 10 points.
Right now, the Canucks do not find themselves in a very favorable position at the moment. After going 11-13-2 so far this season, the Canucks find themselves in sixth place in the Pacific Division. Essentially, the only team in their division with a worse record than them is the Arizona Coyotes.
When a team has their backs against the wall like the Canucks do at this moment, they are at their most dangerous point. Desperation does strange things to a team, as the Lightning have learned many times over. The last thing the team wants to do right now is to underestimate the Vancouver Canucks.
The Tampa Bay Lightning will need to come into tonight’s game with the same fire and aggression they would if tonight’s encounter were a playoff game. They will need to be aggressive with the puck, strong defensively, and play a consistent 60 minutes of hockey.
If the Lightning can accomplish this, they may be able to take the first step towards getting back on the right track and winning games the way Lightning fans have become accustomed to.
The action is set to kick off at 7:30 p.m. tonight at the Amalie Arena. As always, you can catch all the action on Fox Sports Sun, or on the go with the Fox Sports Go app. If you’d rather listen to Dave Mishkin and Phil Esposito make the call, you can tune into 970WFLA or the TBL Power Play on iHeartRadio.
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