
Tampa Bay Lightning News


Cernak has missed the last two games with an upper-body injury but said that he's good-to-go following the morning skate. Cernak has one assist and a plus-4 rating in four games this season.

Cernak will miss his second straight game with an upper-body injury but the Lightning are hopeful that he will be available on Monday. Cal Foote will remain in the lineup while Cernak is sidelined.

Vasilevskiy stopped 34 of 35 shots in the Lightning's 1-0 loss in Carolina on Thursday. Even with Curtis McElhinney coming off of the COVID-19 protocol list, the Lightning will give Vasilevskiy his sixth straight start on Saturday. Through his first five games of the season, the 26-year-old has gone 3-1-1 with a 1.98 GAA and .932 SV%.

Vasilevskiy stopped 34 of 35 shots in the Lightning's 1-0 loss in Carolina on Thursday. Even with Curtis McElhinney coming off of the COVID-19 protocol list, the Lightning will give Vasilevskiy his sixth straight start on Saturday. Through his first five games of the season, the 26-year-old has gone 3-1-1 with a 1.98 GAA and .932 SV%.

Vasilevskiy gave up four goals on 27 shots in the Lightning's loss in Columbus last Saturday. The Lightning have been off ever since, so Vasilevskiy will be well-rested vs. a Hurricanes team that hasn't played since January 18th. Through four starts, Vasilevskiy has a sparkling .920 SV% to go along with a 2.24 GAA, so he should be active whenever he gets the nod.

Vasilevskiy gave up four goals on 27 shots in the Lightning's loss in Columbus last Saturday. The Lightning have been off ever since, so Vasilevskiy will be well-rested vs. a Hurricanes team that hasn't played since January 18th. Through four starts, Vasilevskiy has a sparkling .920 SV% to go along with a 2.24 GAA, so he should be active whenever he gets the nod.

Cernak left Saturday's game in Columbus in the first period after falling awkwardly into the boards. With Cernak listed as day-to-day, he should be considered questionable for Thursday's game and Cal Foote would likely draw in to replace him if he can't go.



Vasilevskiy allowed two goals on 37 shots in the Lightning's win over the Blackhawks last Friday. Vasilevskiy won his first two games of the season while stopping 57 of the 60 shots (.950 SV%). Those two games came against a terrible Blackhawks team, so tonight's matchup with the Blue Jackets should be a much stiffer test.



Linus Ullmark, who was Monday's projected starter, will miss tonight's game due to personal reasons. As a result, Johansson was promoted from the taxi squad and he's expected to back up Carter Hutton.

Vasilevskiy stopped 22 of 23 shots in the Lightning's season-opening win over the Blackhawks on Wednesday. A late, fluky goal snapped his shutout but it was still a nice start to the season for Fantasy's No.1 netminder. With another matchup with Chicago on-tap, Vasilevskiy is an obvious must-start and should move to 2-0 to start the season.

Vasilevskiy stopped 22 of 23 shots in the Lightning's season-opening win over the Blackhawks on Wednesday. A late, fluky goal snapped his shutout but it was still a nice start to the season for Fantasy's No.1 netminder. With another matchup with Chicago on-tap, Vasilevskiy is an obvious must-start and should move to 2-0 to start the season.

Vasilevskiy is Fantasy's unquestioned No.1 goalie due to his workload and the quality the team in front of him. He has led the NHL in wins each of the last three seasons while ranking eighth in GAA (2.53) and fifth in SV% (.921). On opening night he draws a tremendous matchup vs. a Blackhawks team that is without both Jonathan Toews and Kirby Dach.

Girgensons will miss the entire 2021 season after suffering a serious hamstring injury. Girgensons led all Sabres forwards in shorthanded ice-time a season ago and they also lost Johan Larsson in free agency, so the Sabres will have to completely retool their penalty kill this season.

Bjorkstrand finally saw his long-awaited bump in ice time in 2020 and he turned out a career-year, which was unfortunately hampered by injuries. Overall, he scored 21 goals with 15 assists (36 points) in 49 games, a 35-goal and 60-point per 82-game pace. Bjorkstrand is expected to continue to see huge minutes in 2021 as a fixture on the Blue Jackets' top line with Pierre-Luc Dubois.
