Notebook: Lightning suffer injury-filled practice on Sunday

Tampa Bay practiced Sunday morning ahead of its home contest Monday against the Washington Capitals, when the Lightning will go for a season-long win streak of three in a row.
The session left the Bolts battered and bruised, however.

Boris Katchouk came off the ice midway through the practice and didn't return as he got repairs in the training room. Erik Cernak blocked a shot off his knee and sat in pain on the bench for a while before coming back.
"Today was a tough practice," Lightning head coach Jon Cooper admitted.
Steven Stamkos took the day off for body maintenance, although when Cooper was asked if the Lightning captain would be okay to play Monday, his answer, "I sure hope so," left it open for interpretation.
Stamkos paces the Lightning for scoring and ranks tied for fifth in the NHL after notching his fifth multi-point game already this season with a goal and assist in Thursday's 5-1 victory over the Arizona Coyotes, the Bolts' first home win of 2021-22.
Zach Bogosian is still on his expected timeframe and about two to three weeks out from returning according to an update from the head coach. The veteran defenseman was injured in the season-opening loss to Pittsburgh.
"That puts him around a little before Thanksgiving. Maybe earlier though," Cooper said.
Cal Foote, who had surgery to repair a tendon in his pinky finger during the offseason and has yet to play for the Lightning this season, was recalled from AHL Syracuse Sunday afternoon. Foote skated in five games from October 22-30 on a conditioning assignment with the Crunch and recorded 12 shots, ranking second among Crunch defensemen in that category.
Foote could make his Lightning season debut as early as Monday.
ON THE RIGHT TRACK: Tampa Bay has looked much more like the team that won back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in two-straight 5-1 victories Tuesday in Pittsburgh and Thursday over Arizona to improve to 4-3-1 (9 pts.) on the season.
The Lightning were giving up 4.17 goals per game coming into the Pittsburgh contest but have lowered that number to a much more respectable 3.38 following the two wins in which they gave up just a single goal in each, partially do to stellar play in net by goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy. Their current goals-against average is still not great by the Bolts' lofty standards but getting back to where it needs to be.
Oddly enough, Cooper said, it's because of the team's improved play defensively that it's been able to fill the net with more regularity. Entering Pittsburgh, the Lightning had scored just 16 goals. They netted 10 combined in their last two contests.
"If there's one part of the game we've really focused on, it's the D side of the game," Cooper said. "And, ironically, our goals for have gone up because we've concentrated on that end of the ice. But that's a big thing for us. We were, just our arrivals, getting out of our zone, playing the game quicker in the D zone, that's been a big part of contention for us.
"We're far from where we want to be but we're getting better."
THE UPSIDE DOWN: Take a look at the Lightning shot leaders and you'll find one of the most bizarre stats from the early part of the season.
Defenseman Erik Cernak currently paces the Bolts for shots on goal with 26, buoyed in part by a career high-tying seven shot performance October 23 versus Colorado and followed up two nights later with five more shots in Buffalo.
Cernak ranks sixth among NHL defensemen and tied for 28th overall in the NHL for shots.
Certainly, as the Lightning play more games, expect to see forwards like Steven Stamkos and Brayden Point overtake Cernak in the statistical category. But Cernak is making a concerted effort to get pucks on net and become more involved in the offense. His defensive abilities have been above average since pretty much his first day in the NHL. Now, according to his defensive partner, he's taking the next step in the evolution of his game into becoming a premier all-around blueliner.
"We know his physical size and his skating ability. That sets him up to be in those situations up the ice and gaining more confidence with the puck on his stick, just understanding when there's an opportunity there, when there's a play and to put himself in a position to even get a shot off," Lightning defenseman Ryan McDonagh said. "We're stressing a lot of shooting from our blue line here, especially in the O-zone. There's not a lot of time and space when the forwards do get it up to us. We've got to find a way to get it down toward the net here. It's been a point of emphasis for everybody, but for Cerny, I think he's just gaining confidence of understanding when there's a play to be made and not really forcing things either, just taking what's given out there."
TRICKS AND TREATS: Several Lightning players dressed up for Halloween, the players holding a team party on Friday where a lot of the guys got to show off their creative sides.
Alex Killorn went as game day Tom Brady, complete with a Buccaneers helmet, jersey and pants and a play-call sheet wristband. His sidekick Andrej Sustr went a similar route in a Blaine Gabbert uniform.
Anthony Cirelli was Jackie Moon of the Flint Tropics from the movie Semi-Pro. Mathieu Joseph was a spot-on Lil' Wayne. Ross Colton dressed up as D.J. Pauly D.
"Pretty fitting since I'm from Jersey," he said, smiling.
Taylor Raddysh as Dog the Bounty Hunter was the best outfit according to Colton.
"He pulled it off pretty well," Colton said.
Ryan McDonagh said he's going to surprise his youngest son who's obsessed with the Baby Shark song and be a shark for a Halloween.
Jonny Cooper, son of head coach Jon Cooper, probably has them all beat though.
He's going as Nikita Kucherov from his legendary post-Game 5 Stanley Cup-championship press conference.
There was some debate in the Cooper household, however, if he'll carry around an empty Bud Light can or write Bud Light on a piece of tape and stick it to a Coke can. And there will be no "No. 1 bull\\\\" coming out of Jonny's mouth.
"He shouldn't be allowed to go like that," the elder Cooper said. "His dad's getting soft."