Tampa Bay Lightning captain Steven Stamkos won’t play against the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday night due to a lower-body injury that will lead to him missing his second straight game.
Coach Jon Cooper provided the update before the game in listing Stamkos as being day to day. Stamkos appeared to get hurt when blocking a shot in a 6-4 loss at Detroit on Saturday. He did not play in a 5-2 loss at Ottawa a day later.
The Lightning (1-2) close out their three-game road trip at Buffalo (0-2) before returning to Tampa Bay to open a five-game homestand, beginning against Vancouver on Thursday.
Tampa Bay is already without starting goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, who is expected to miss at least one more month after having back surgery. Center Tyler Motte will miss his third straight game due to an upper-body injury.
The losses to Atlantic Division rivals, coupled with the injuries led to Cooper expressing a sense of urgency.
“To go on this trip this early in the year and get zero points out of teams you’re competing for a playoff spot makes it a little bit of an uphill climb and that’s not something you want to do early in the year,” Cooper said. “I don’t want to say, Game 4s (of the season) are big games, but this is a big one for us.”
