Notebook: Sergachev okay after taking a puck to the face on Tuesday

Andrei Vasilevskiy set a Tampa Bay franchise record Tuesday after making 16-of-17 stops at Dallas for his 12th-consecutive win, passing Louis Domingue's mark of 11 wins in a row and coming within two victories in his next two appearances of matching the NHL record for a goalie win streak (14 games set four times previously).
Mikhail Sergachev likely won't look back on the historic evening as fondly as his teammate and countryman.

On the opening shift of the second period of Tampa Bay's 2-1 win over the Stars, the Bolts' fifth win in a row, Vasilevskiy went behind his net to stop and play a rimmed puck. Coming back below the goal line to provide an outlet was Sergachev.
Vasilevskiy initially tried to pass the puck to Sergachev but misfired on the attempt. As a pair of Stars converged on him, Vasilevskiy, in his words, panicked and shoveled the puck high up the boards to clear it from danger.
The puck hit Sergachev square in the face, the defenseman immediately dropping to the ice, holding his face. When he rose to his skates, his nose and upper lip were bloodied.
Sergachev went straight down the tunnel to the locker room for repairs.
He returned midway through the period and finished the game.
"I just kind of stopped the puck first behind the net and I tried to look for our guys," Vasilevskiy recalled following the win. "And then I kind of turned my head back to see where the puck is and it wasn't on my blade, so I kind of was panicking a little bit and just trying to put it on the board and unfortunately Sergy's face was in the way."
Vasilevskiy said during his post-game media session he'd already apologized to Sergachev, who needed five stitches to close a cut that stretched from his right nostril to the top of his lip.
In the visitors' locker room, the two posed for a picture after the game: Vasilevskiy barely stifling a smirk as he held the game puck from his historic win and Sergachev, fat lipped and stitched, giving a thumbs up gesture.
"That happens," Vasilevskiy said with a wry smile. "It's obviously not good for our team.
"Or his face."

PLUGGING HOLES: Following Tuesday's morning skate in Dallas, Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said with so many games compressed in a short period of time - the Bolts had just completed a week of five games in seven days - combined with the lack of available days to practice, it was incumbent on the coaching staff to simplify their message and their methods to prioritize rest for their players.
There are areas of the Lightning's play that have slipped of late, despite the team going 10-2-1 in March, climbing to the top of the NHL standings on both point and point percentage and matching the franchise record for points through the first 32 games of a season set previously in 2017-18. The team is taking too many penalties. There are too many odd-man rushes against which have led to too many dangerous scoring chances against.
Tampa Bay's win totals have helped to mask some of those deficiencies, but the staff has had to turn to video to try and address and correct these areas.
Cooper used the analogy of a leaking boat to explain the challenge. If there are holes in a boat, you don't have enough time to plug all the leaks. So the best you can do is focus on one leak and plug it completely so it doesn't leak again.
That's how the Lightning spend their limited practice time according to Cooper, correcting one deficiency so it's no longer a deficiency.
Wednesday, the Lightning had a rare practice session, although it was an optional skate, mainly to allow taxed players more time to rest. Lightning assistant coach Derek Lalonde said nine players participated: six forwards and three defensemen. One of those was Luke Schenn, who hasn't played since March 13.
"Walking over here, Luke Schenn asked if we were having a full practice today," Lalonde said. "I think he was looking forward to it, and I said, 'No, this is what it's going to look like the next day.' And he's like the whole league's in the same boat."
Lalonde said they couldn't work on structure with so few players, Wednesday's practice was more about getting guys touches that wanted them.
On Monday, the Lightning will have their first full practice with the whole team in quite some time (not counting morning skates), a session highly anticipated among the staff.
"I know it sounds funny, but we've been talking about it as a staff for about three weeks, and now, every time we come out of a game, 'Well, we have that practice on Monday,'" Lalonde said. "It's going to end up being a six-hour practice if we actually do everything we've talked about the last three weeks."
Lalonde said he and the coaching staff have challenged the team to work on deficient areas through video and meetings and they've responded positively.
"Not ideal. I think you lack some sharpness and you lack some details in your game with that, but for the most part, hence our record and our consistency, the guys have done a pretty good job," Lalonde said. "There's been many things we've addressed through video. There's been many things we've addressed through clips and asked them to improve upon and they did."

CHIP OFF THE OLD BLOCK: Since making his NHL debut February 24 versus Carolina and scoring a goal on his first shot and second shift, Lightning rookie Ross Colton has plugged seamlessly into the center spot on the fourth line, developing instant chemistry with left winger Patrick Maroon and right wing Mathieu Joseph.
In seven games, Colton has scored two goals and added two assists and was even tabbed for a First Round shootout attempt March 16 in Dallas he successfully converted to spark the Bolts' win. That line has found a bit of an identity with Colton in the lineup: Joseph using his speed to get first touch on pucks in the zone, Maroon holding the play up below the circles and fending off defenders to deliver pucks to the front of the net and Colton combining with Maroon to hold up the play while going to the dirty areas to create scoring opportunities.
In a way, Colton plays a similar game to Maroon, both big-bodied forwards who can wear down opponents by cycling the puck deep in the offensive zone while also having enough skill and touch to finish off scoring chances.
The two have developed an instant chemistry. Colton said he looks to Maroon to provide guidance for how to conduct himself as a professional and play at the NHL level. And Maroon sees parts of himself in Colton and works to bring out the best in Colton's game.
"We kind of feed off each other," Maroon said. "He plays that down below the top of the circles game and gets to the front of the net, gets to the dirty areas, wins puck battles and kind of plays a hard game the right way. The good thing about Ross too he's got a lot of speed, he's good on draws so he's got a lot of upside to him. He's got a lot of skill that people don't know of. He's got some good hands around the net. He's got some vision. He's been a good asset for our team. He's been fitting in pretty well here."
Maroon remembers being a young player in the NHL himself and just wanting work hard and do everything asked of him. Colton is the same type of person: an intense, driven player on the ice but also one that likes to have fun off of it and isn't afraid to show his personality.
"I'm really proud of Ross, especially how he handles himself around the rink," Maroon said. "He's a good kid. People love him around the rink. He's only going to get mature and get better as he continues to be an everyday player."