Tampa Bay Lightning facing major injury dilemma ahead of Thursday's Game 2

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Cooper Godin
April 19, 2023 (2:00 PM)

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The Tampa Bay Lightning took to the ice for their practice in preparation for Game 2 against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday night but were missing a few key players.

Victor Hedman, Michael Eyssimont, Erik Cernak and Ian Cole were all not on the ice on Wednesday afternoon, which is definitely a concern for Lightning head coach Jon Cooper as his team looks to take a 2-0 series lead tomorrow night.

Hedman missed the majority of Game 1 with an undisclosed injury. He was late coming out of the locker room for the second period, didn't take a shift in the middle frame and was deemed done for the night.

As for Erik Cernak, it's safe to say he's dealing with an upper-body injury after being hit in the head by Maple Leafs forward Michael Bunting. Bunting was ejected from the game and is having a hearing with the NHL's Department of Player Safety later on Wednesday afternoon.

Eyssimont was hit by Maple Leafs defenceman Jake McCabe last night and was forced to leave the game and did not return. When it comes to Ian Cole, it's unclear why he missed practice on Wednesday as he finished Tuesday's game and didn't appear to be injured.

Jon Cooper will have his hands full as he tries to put his Game 2 lineup together for Thursday night and it wouldn't be a shock if he's forced to call-up a few players from the Syracuse Crunch of the AHL. Puck drop for Game 2 on Thursday is set for 7 p.m. ET.