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Lightning captain Vincent Lecavalier to miss 4-5 weeks after hand surgery

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We told you a bit on Saturday that Lightning captain Vincent Lecavalier would be having surgery on his hand and would miss a few weeks of action. Today, the Lightning reported that Lecavalier’s surgery went well and that he would miss about 4-5 weeks of action. What’s ailing Vinny is a broken knuckle on his right hand. If you think that sounds painful you’d be right. Imagine having to play hockey and try to hang on to your stick while dealing with a broken knuckle. That’s not my idea of a good time.

The injury comes at a tough time for the Lightning. They’re in the midst of a skid that’s seen them lose six of their last seven games with a record of 1-5-1 over that span. The Lightning’s biggest problem during this skid is goal scoring. Over those seven games they’ve scored just 13 goals while allowing 24 goals. The goaltending has been hot and cold, but in their last three games (all losses) they haven’t even been close losing by three or more goals.

This now becomes a stern test for Steven Stamkos to see if he can handle being the absolute main focus of the team’s offense for the next month. Stamkos has done just fine in usurping the lead role at center from Lecavalier, but now he won’t have him as someone else to draw the attention of other team’s top defenders. It’ll be Stamkos, St. Louis or bust in Tampa when it comes to scoring.