The Tampa Bay Lightning have had some bad luck with injuries as of late. It started with Nikita Kucherov before the season, and now Steven Stamkos is day-to-day and in COVID protocol. In the first game of the season that Stamkos missed against the Florida Panthers on February 11th, 2021, another member of the Lightning went down; Anthony Cirelli. The Athletic’s Joe Smith revealed on Saturday that Cirelli is out week-to-week with an injury.
UPDATE: Anthony Cirelli is week to week with upper body injury #tblightning
— Joe Smith (@JoeSmithNHL) February 13, 2021
Anthony Cirelli Suffers Upper-Body Injury in Loss
The 23-year-old centre, Cirelli, was looked at as a key piece for the Lightning heading into the season. With his performance last year getting recognition in the form of Selke Trophy votes, the always-questioned health of Stamkos, and the loss of Kucherov, it’s no surprise expectations were high. Yet, he still has surpassed those expectations to start. Averaging nearly 18 minutes a game this season, Cirelli has potted four goals and six assists for 10 points in 12 games played this season. On top of that, Cirelli has also recorded a 52.7 Corsi-For Percent (CF%) to this point. What makes that mark all the more impressive is the fact that he has started just under 45 percent of his shifts in the offensive zone!
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On top of his 18 minutes of ice time, he averages 2:37 per game on the penalty kill, according to Natural Stat Trick. That mark is third-most on Tampa Bay, and first among forwards! He’s efficient on the penalty kill as well. He ranks fifth on the Lightning in expected goals against per 60 minutes among teammates with at least four minutes of total penalty kill time. He also ranks fifth in scoring chances against per 60 minutes, high-danger chances against per 60 minutes, and fourth in actual goals-against per 60 minutes.
What this means for the Future
The hope is that this set-back for Cirelli is only temporary. However, following an awkward collision in the left corner of the offensive zone, he doubled-over in pain. Jon Cooper stated after the game concluded “It didn’t look great coming off the ice.” Cirelli will be re-evaluated, but there has been no word regarding this yet.
For the Lightning, this means everyone on the penalty killing unit must step up. Blake Coleman will likely see a slight uptick in penalty killing minutes. He currently averages a shade over two minutes a game himself. Yanni Gourde, who averages under 50 seconds per game on the kill, would probably see the biggest raise in ice time. He has excellent chemistry with the Lightning main penalty killers in Barclay Goodrow and Coleman already. Brayden Point, Mathieu Joseph, and Alex Killorn are other players who have penalty killing experience. All of them could have a bigger role moving forward.
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