Witnessing Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Mikhail Sergachev being wheeled off the ice at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night was a difficult sight.
Sergachev returned to the lineup following a 17-game absence due to a foot injury sustained in December. However, he sustained additional injuries when he fell awkwardly to the ice after colliding with Alexis Lafreniere in the second period.
Despite players, including head coach Jon Cooper, approaching to give their support, the Russian-born blueliner was clearly upset as he was leaving the ice.
What do the Lightning do, one could ask?
Erik Cernak made his comeback to the squad against the Rangers, which appeared to give the Bolts a totally healthy blueline. General manager Julien BriseBois must decide whether to continue with the defenseman he already has or try to acquire someone else before the trade deadline approaches.
The Lightning are now one point behind the Toronto Maple Leafs for third place in the Atlantic Division and the top wild-card slot in the Eastern Conference.
In the Thursday episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Tyler Yaremchuk and Frank Seravalli examine the future of the Bolts’ blueline.
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Mikhail Sergachev
Frank Seravalli: In the grand scheme of things, I believe the question that really needs to be asked is this: what does this do to thier lineup in terms of their deadline plans? More importantly, does it mean that this team’s status as a mean for a team that was already in the running for a defenseman while Sergachev was in the lseller is doomed, or will Julien BriseBois step up and go even harder and more aggressively to try and cover what are essentially two gaps in their blueline?
The trouble with the Lightning is that they’re still outside of the postseason picture, and I have no idea how that will work out.
