Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman is doubtful to play this week, reports Joe Smith of The Athletic (Twitter link). He suffered an upper-body injury on Saturday and with Tampa Bay’s positioning for the postseason locked in, there’s no real point in risking anything. The team is hopeful he’ll be ready to go to start the first round next week. Meanwhile, fellow blueliner Anton Stralman could get into a game on their four-game road trip to end the season while Dan Girardi is expected to skate sometime this week. That makes it unlikely he’ll play before the season comes to an end but he should be available for the playoffs.
Other injury notes around the league:
- Dallas is hoping to have goalie Ben Bishop and winger Mats Zuccarello get into one of their upcoming games this weekend, notes Mark Stepneski of the Stars’ team website. Bishop skated for the first time today after sustaining a lower-body injury last week while Zuccarello, who was injured in his first game with the team, went through a full practice today and may be the closer of the two to returning.
- Rangers winger Pavel Buchnevich is in concussion protocol, reports NHL.com’s Mike Morreale (via Twitter). He left Sunday’s game against Philadelphia late with the injury and while they were hopeful he’d suit up tonight, that wasn’t the case. Buchnevich, a pending restricted free agent this summer, has 37 points in 61 games this season.
- Maple Leafs winger Andreas Johnsson is dealing with an illness that kept him out of the lineup for tonight’s game against the Islanders, notes Jonas Siegel of The Athletic (Twitter link). The pending RFA has been in a bit of a slump as of late, posting just a single goal in his last 15 games but has 20 tallies on the season.