Tampa Bay defenseman Victor Hedman notched an assist and ate up more than 20 minutes patrolling the blue line in his return from a lower-body injury suffered over two weeks ago.
The big swede, who was lost on December 5th against the Ottawa Senators, now has six goals and ten helpers in 29 games for the Bolts - his plus 2 rating for the win over the Nashville Predators on Thursday night bringing his season rating to minus one.
“Take your best defenseman out, a guy that plays 25 minutes a night, that’s almost half the game, and he’s a horse for us back there, so of course we’ve missed him, but you can’t complain. We have to find a way to win with guys like Hedman and (Steven) Stamkos out. Is it ideal? No, but we can’t have any excuses. We have to find a way.” - Lightning coach Jon Cooper
The Lightning are 4-1-2 in Hedman's absence, and have won three straight - so Tampa Bay has been able to stem the tide without him, which speaks to the talent and depth in the organization. The Lightning have kept pace with the Boston Bruins in the Atlantic Division despite all of their injuries, including Steven Stamkos' broken leg.
Stamkos, Tampa's leading scorer at the time of his injury, is targeting an early February return and has returned to the ice to skate end to end and has started participating in individual drills.
http://www.sportsinjuryalert.com/2013/12/hedman-returns-for-lightning-stamkos.html
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