Lightning will use days off to 'get our guys healthy'

The Tampa Bay Lightning have been dealing with an illness and hope an extra day off before Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final against the New York Rangers will give them time to recover.

"It's tough. We've had a few guys under the weather, not that that's any excuse," forward Alex Killorn said in a conference call Wednesday. "I think most of the guys have been ready for games and stuff like that. But these few days we have here, I know [Wednesday] is a day off; it's going to be to be huge, not only for injuries, but for guys that have been feeling kind of sick. So we're going to use these days to get our guys back healthy."

Game 7 is at Madison Square Garden on Friday (8 p.m.; NBCSN, CBC, TVA Sports). The best-of-7 series is tied 3-3 after the Lightning failed to end it at home, losing 7-3 on Tuesday.

Among the players who have been sick is defenseman Braydon Coburn, who coach Jon Cooper implied threw up on the bench in the first period of Game 5 at Madison Square Garden on Sunday. Coburn played less than six minutes in the first period before not playing the remainder of the game; he played 14:27 in Game 6.

Cooper didn't divulge who else was ill.

"Maybe after it's all said and done, more things will come out of what's happened in our room, but we're putting the best lineup we can as possible," Cooper said.

"I'm sure the Rangers have guys that things are going on with them that's not coming out in the media, so it's probably happening to both teams. As I said, this extra day for us is definitely a benefit."