Lightning continue to win despite spate of injuries

MONTREAL -- Center Brian Boyle signed with the Tampa Bay Lightning during the offseason as an unrestricted free agent after spending years as a key role player with the New York Rangers.

But while Boyle has not been the Lightning around for that long, in the past two games he has come to epitomize what the Lightning have become over the past two seasons.

During a 4-0 loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday, coach Jon Cooper moved Boyle back to defense when he lost defenseman Jason Garrison very early in the game. Prior to the Lightning's game Monday against the Montreal Canadiens, Boyle talked about how difficult that transition was for him.

"But if it's needed, I want to be effective," Boyle said. "I want to be good back there."

Little did Boyle know how soon he would get another chance.

Already missing Garrison, Braydon Coburn and Andrej Sustr, the Lightning lost their No. 1 defenseman, Victor Hedman, on his first shift of the third period, just after the Canadiens had scored to cut Tampa Bay's lead to 3-2.

Boyle went back on defense again and, as has become typical of the Lightning, did an admirable job filling in for the best defenseman on the team.

"Good thing we had big Boyle out there," Lightning captain Steven Stamkos said. "If he didn't have 'Boyle' on his jersey you might think it's Hedman out there."

Boyle's play on defense was hardly a determining factor, but it helped complete a big 5-3 Tampa Bay victory that clinched a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs and completed a five-game season sweep of the team that swept them out of the playoffs last spring.

It was also another example of the Lightning overcoming adversity, something they have been dealt more than their fair share of since the beginning of last season but have regularly brushed aside.

"Adversity is probably an overused term," Cooper said. "But to patch together the [defense] corps we did, and then to lose [Hedman] in the third and to put Boyle back down there, it's a tribute to those guys. They stayed engaged, they had a will to win this hockey game."

Another example?

The Lightning did not dress center Tyler Johnson against Montreal; he's day-to-day with an upper-body injury and could be back Tuesday against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Air Canada Centre (7:30 p.m. ET; TVA Sports, SUN, TSN4). Johnson is one point behind Stamkos for the team lead in scoring. He plays in the middle of the Triplets line between Ondrej Palat and Nikita Kucherov.

Cooper played rookie Vladislav Namestnikov in Johnson's place on Monday. Namestnikov had scored seven goals in his first 41 NHL games (37 coming this season). But he went out and scored twice against the Canadiens, including the game-winning goal in the third period.

Of course he did.

After losing Stamkos for most of last season and still qualifying for the playoffs largely on the back of breakthrough rookie seasons by Johnson and Palat, the Lightning are again facing a bit of an injury crisis.

Hedman was listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury Tuesday, according to the Tampa Bay Times. The Lightning recalled defenseman Slater Koekkoek, the No 10 pick in the 2012 NHL Draft, from the Syracuse Crunch of the American Hockey League and he is expected to make his debut in Toronto.

With Coburn out until at least the start of the playoffs, Garrison out until midway through the first round at a minimum and Sustr's return not coming for at least a week, losing Hedman would be a devastating blow.

"Hopefully it's not too bad. We can't really afford any more [injuries]," Stamkos said. "Heading into the playoffs you need guys that have been there before, and he's obviously a horse for us. So we need him to be OK."

Except if there is one team that could probably overcome such a blow, it would be the Lightning.

They're used to it.