On Saturday night, Tampa Bay Lightning forward Ondrej Palat was injured with an undisclosed lower-body injury to his left leg in a 1-0 loss to the Minnesota Wild. He is expected to miss 3-5 weeks. He will not require surgery.
Palat left the game on Saturday when Wild forward Nino Niedderreiter fell onto Palat’s left leg in a precarious way in front of the Wild net. Here is the video of where the injury occured.
Palat’s injury was announced on Monday, when he didn’t show up to the team’s practice. Palat has 7 points (2 goals, 5 assists) through 16 games for the defending Stanley cup finalists, while averaging over 18 minutes of ice time per game. He plays a key part in every situation for the Lightning.
“It’s obviously bad. It sucks to be injured, to not play, to not help the guys,” Palat told reporters Monday regarding his injury.
Jon Cooper addressed the media Monday to discuss the impact that the injury has on the team.
“He’s an extremely valuable player to our team, Palat plays all the hard minutes and all the important minutes.” says Cooper on just how valuable he thinks his young winger is to the team.
The Lightning have lost 6 of their last 8 games, good for third in the Atlantic division. They currently have a 7-7-2 record for a .500 winning percentage through 16 games and aren’t playing like the team many saw last year as they have only scored 38 goals in 16 games and allowing the same amount in the process. They also only hold a 4 point lead over the 7th place Buffalo Sabres, as the Sabres have 2 games in hand. The two teams face off at the Amalie Arena at 7:30 on Tuesday night.
Main Photo Caption: TAMPA, FL – APRIL 8: Ondrej Palat #18 of the Tampa Bay Lightning celebrates his goal in front of Tyler Bozak #42 of the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Tampa Bay Times Forum on April 8, 2014 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Mike Carlson/Getty Images)
