On Monday, the Tampa Bay Lightning announced that they had recalled defenseman Max Crozier from the Syracuse Crunch. The 24-year-old defenseman joined the team for practice and skated on a pairing with fellow rookie Emil Lilleberg.
Fellow blueliner Nick Perbix was not on the ice for the workout due to “maintenance issues” according to the team. While Perbix did miss a shift in the third period, there wasn’t a big violent hit that preceded it, nor did he look to be in distress during any of his late game shifts. He was on the bench for the final five minutes or so, but that could also have been partially due to Coach Cooper getting more offensive-minded players out there with the Lightning trailing. According to Natural Stat Trick, Perbix did take five hits throughout the game, so perhaps the accumulation wore him down a bit.
Following the practice on Monday, Coach Cooper did state that Crozier “might have to play” in Game Two, so it’s likely that they are going to wait to see how everyone feels prior to warm-ups. There is no organized morning skate planned for Tuesday, so the decision will be a mystery until game time. The Lightning could choose to go with an 11/7 line-up, bringing Crozier and Calvin de Haan into the rotation if Perbix or Erik Cernak (who looked to be shaken up a little following a third-period hit from Carter Verhaeghe) can’t go. That would also give Coach Cooper the benefit of moving Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point around with different linemates in order to get favorable match-ups.
If Crozier does draw in, he’s going to be paired with Lilleberg, a player he’s pretty comfortable with due to the time they spent together in Syracuse. The pair played together for roughly 96 minutes at 5v5 with the Lightning during the regular season and held their own. They boasted a 2.49 xGA and their 17.55 SCA/60 was the best on the team for any duo that was together for at least 60 minutes of ice time.
Starting an all-rookie pairing isn’t ideal when a team is down 1-0 in a playoff series, but based on the lack of depth on the blueline right now, especially with Haydn Fleury still apparently recovering from an injury, it might be the best option for Coach Cooper as they look to even the series.
As for the Crunch, their series with Rochester doesn’t start until Friday night, but they are undoubtedly hoping whatever required the call-up is brief. The Lightning are already holding onto one of their top goaltenders in Matt Tomkins for the foreseeable future, and they won’t want to be without the player that was recently named as the Brightest Prospect on the team. In his first full season in the AHL, the Alberta-native had 4 goals and 17 assists in 49 games.
