By no means was the Hedman-Savard experiment considered a failure, and those two will likely see time together again at some point. But for now, Savard will stay paired with McDonagh when he skates in his 600th career NHL game in tonight's series finale against the Panthers (7 p.m. puck drop).
"When you acquire new players, you're looking to see where they fit, and sometimes looking on paper is not the same as what they are on the ice," Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. "So, we wanted to move him around a little bit and see what we saw. And it's not necessarily what's going to help Savard's game but who's helping Hedman as a partner, who's helping Mac, who's helping Sergachev. So, we gave him a run with Hedman the game before and one with McDonagh here just to kind of get a vibe for instincts of players. He showed really well in the game with McDonagh, and so we're probably going to stick with that for now as hopefully that defensive pairing, kind of a shutdown pairing does well for us."
McDonagh and Erik Cernak had been the Lightning's shutdown duo for the last couple of seasons, but Cernak moved up to the top pair alongside Hedman for Thursday's victory and will stay there while the Lightning explore McDonagh and Savard as their shutdown pair.
"Cernak's played with Mac a lot and Hedman, and Sergachev fits in there too," Cooper said. "Those guys, they've spent some time with each other, but we like the Cernak-Hedman pair."
STAMKOS TO SKATE SOON: On Friday, Jon Cooper said "by no means" did they expect Steven Stamkos' current lower-body injury to end his season.
Following Saturday's morning skate, Cooper was even more optimistic the Lightning captain will be able to return to action before the end of the regular season and be fully healthy by the playoffs.
After Thursday's game, the team announced Stamkos was on long-term injury reserve and would miss at least 10 games/24 days retroactive to his last game April 8. He was hurt in the third period that night in Columbus on a non-contact play and hasn't skated since.
"We're extremely optimistic after he comes off the required time amount he'll be in really good shape to continue playing for us," Cooper said. "That's about all I can say. We'll see how he rests and body mends a little bit. Hopefully, he'll be back on the ice in a week to 10 days and get him back going again and make a push at the end for the playoffs."
Also Saturday, the team announced Stamkos' latest injury is unrelated to the core muscle injury he sustained at the end of the 2019-20 season, one in which he underwent a procedure for on March 2, 2020. Stamkos suffered a compensatory injury during the restart and was unable to play in the playoffs, save for 2:47 in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final versus Dallas, where he scored the most iconic goal in Lightning history in leading the Lightning to a 5-2 win and a 2-1 series lead, a series they would eventually win in six games to lift the franchise's second Stanley Cup.
COLTON NOT COMFORTABLE DESPITE SUCCESS: Lightning rookie Ross Colton has been tearing it up since his arrival in Tampa Bay.
In 17 games this season, he's scored eight goals and recorded points in 11 contests. Colton netted a crucial game-tying goal in the third period of Thursday's victory shortly after the Lightning fell behind to get the Bolts into overtime, where Victor Hedman won it on a breakaway 54 seconds into the extra session.
Colton has netted four goals over the last five games and six goals over the last eight. He leads the Lightning for goals in April (6) and ranks tied for fifth among all NHL skaters for goals during the month.
But despite his early success, he's not ready to say he feels comfortable as a regular in the National Hockey League.
"I definitely have some confidence going right now, but I still feel like I have that same hunger from that day one I got called up because we have so many guys here that are still fighting to get in the lineup," Colton said. "If I get a little bit complacent, I have by no means a spot certified. I still come to the rink every day with the mindset I've got to get better, I've got to learn from these other guys, I've got to push them and they've got to push me to get better. I'm still as hungry as I am from day one, and I'm just excited to finish the season and go from there."
Colton attributed his NHL readiness to the tutelage of Syracuse Crunch head coach Ben Groulx. When Colton was first called up to the Lightning and made his NHL debut on February 24, scoring the opening goal in that contest, which was also the game-winner in the Bolts' 3-0 shutout of Carolina, Groulx sent Colton a text saying, 'Remember, it's just a hockey game,' a message Colton said he took to heart.
"(He) was just awesome for me and always on me, especially my first year he was super hard on me, pushed me, got me into the right playing shape I needed to be in and taught me to play in all three zones," Colton recalled. "Really taught me how to play hard because you can come up to (the American Hockey League) and kind of get complacent and think that it's easy and you just want to score because everyone can score when you're in junior and those other leagues. But when you get to the next level, you've got to learn how to play in all three zones. He just always pushed me and always wanted more out of me and expected the entire team to play to a certain standard."
Colton said he hasn't been told to find a permanent place to stay in Tampa, a step previous prospects and rookies have mentioned as a sign they've made the team for good and can expect to be part of the regular rotation, but with the way the 24 year old is playing, that should come soon.
For now, anyway, Colton's just staying in the moment.
"I'm still living the callup life, still at the hotel, just enjoying it, taking it day by day," he said, smiling. "It could be worse, I get my bed made every day and come home to a clean room, so it's not the worst thing in the world."
