(reprofoto: X/Gino Hard)
Tampa Bay’s Slovak defender Erik Černákwho has been largely affected by injuries in recent years, suffered another in his tenth game of the season.
Černak went to the locker room at the end of the second period of Wednesday’s game against Colorado when Matt Stienburg bumped him against the goalpost. Until then, he played just over 12 minutes with one plus point and a minor penalty.
Matt Stienburg at it again and gets the boot for this hit on Erik Cernak#GoAvsGo | #GoBolts pic.twitter.com/srWwpMKemk
— Missin Curfew (@MissinCurfew) October 31, 2024
“You never want to see your teammate get hurt like that, bro. It was one of those things you don’t want in our sport and the referees took care of it. But you don’t want such procedures,” said Captain Victor Hedman.
The referees gave Stienberg a bigger penalty for assault and suspended him for the rest of the match.
After it ended, Lightning head coach Jon Cooper sounded optimistic that Černak’s injury might not be long-term: “We have no news yet. It was a difficult sequence for us. These are hard knocks, but hopefully he will be ready to play in a few days.”
Read on SlovakFitness.sk:
