TAMPA -- The Tampa Bay Lightning have already lost the first two games of the Eastern Conference First Round against the Florida Panthers. Now, they will have to play Game 3 without one of their top forwards.
Brandon Hagel was suspended one game by the NHL Department of Player Safety on Friday for his hit on Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov in Game 2, meaning he will miss Game 3 at Amerant Bank Arena on Saturday (1 p.m. ET; FDSNSUN, SCRIPPS, MAX, truTV, TBS, SN, TVAS).
It’s a tough blow for the Lightning, but coach Jon Cooper says they have to take a next-man-up approach.
"Somebody that didn't play (in Game 2) is going to play tomorrow," Cooper said Friday. "... We have tons of capable players that can step in and have played big games before, but naturally it's not ideal to lose 'Hags.' But we can adapt and we'll be OK."
Cam Atkinson was the only forward who was a healthy scratch in Game 2, so it’s likely he will enter the lineup. Forward Oliver Bjorkstrand has already been ruled out for the series with a lower-body injury.
Still, it will be hard to replace the production of Hagel.
The 26-year-old is coming off his best NHL season, getting a career-high 90 points (35 goals, 55 assists) in 82 games. He and Anthony Cirelli are two of Tampa Bay's best two-way forwards and are often tasked with the assignment of defending against their opponent's top scoring line. Hagel is also a major piece of the Lightning's penalty kill, which went 3-for-3 in Game 2 after giving up three power-play goals in Game 1.
"Obviously, 'Hags' is a big part of this team and everything we do," Lightning forward Mitchell Chaffee said. "But throughout the season we've always had that next-man-up mentality. When someone goes down, gets hurt or whatever happens, the rest of us have to step up and get the job done."
After losing the first two games at home, Tampa Bay will have to get at least a split on the road to bring the series back to Amalie Arena. To do that, the Lightning need to score some goals and get more production from their top players. Forward Nikita Kucherov, who led the NHL in points for the second straight season with 121 (37 goals, 84 assists) in 78 games, hasn't scored a goal in his past 12 playoff games. Center Brayden Point scored in Game 1 but has three goals in his past 12 playoff games.
Cooper said he liked the way Tampa Bay played in Game 2, and if it can generate similar scoring chances Saturday, the puck will start going in.
"Let's be honest, nobody's on the score sheet," Cooper said. "We've scored two goals in two games, that's not the recipe for success. It was unfortunate in Game 1 (a 6-2 loss on Tuesday). ... That was just a weird game, but we defended well last night and there weren't a ton of opportunities either way to score. They just happened to slip one by us and we couldn't bury our chances.
"We keep playing those types of games, they'll eventually go in."
Although the Lightning are two losses away from their third straight first-round playoff exit -- after winning the Stanley Cup in 2020 and 2021 and reaching the Cup Final in 2022 -- forward Jake Guentzel said the team believes there is plenty of hockey left to play in this series.
"There's no quit in this hockey room, it's the first to four for a reason," Guentzel said. "So, we've just got to get one game at a time and go from there. Everyone's probably going to be talking that we're done, but we believe in this locker room that we can come back, and we've done it all year."
