Devs’ Vatanen iffy as Bolt skates free
The status of the Devils’ top defenseman for their do-or-die Game 5 on Saturday in Tampa is up in the air, but the status of the man who injured him isn’t.
John Hynes’ only update on Sami Vatanen Thursday was that Vatanen is day-to-day with an upper-body injury. He did not travel with the team Thursday but he hasn’t been ruled out for Saturday's game.
Vatanen on Wednesday left late in the first period of the Devils’ 3-1, Game 4 loss, which put the Devils in a 3-1 series hole, after taking a thunderous shoulder hit from Nikita Kucherov. It appeared some contact might’ve been made with Vatanen’s head, but that the initial point of contact was the shoulder area. Kucherov, who has a series-high nine points, wasn’t penalized and won’t be disciplined by the NHL.
The Devils unsuccessfully chased a tying goal the rest of the game with five defensemen, Vatanen’s presence missed at five-on-five and during power plays. Vatanen averaged a teamhigh 22:45 of ice time for the Devils in his 57 regular-season games since coming over from Anaheim in the trade which sent Adam Henrique out west. Vatanen also averaged 23:23 over the first three games of this series.
“The situations he plays in, if he winds up not playing, guys have to be able to — you have to change some things around, but it's no different than the regular season,” Hynes told reporters Thursday. “Sami’s a really important part of our team. He’s a really good player for us, but if unfortunately he isn’t able to go, it’s next man up. We’ve said it all year long: It’s not about the guys out of your lineup, it’s about the performance of the guys in your lineup.” A 10-3-1 run to end the season helped the Devils earn the final wild-card spot and snap a five-year playoff drought. Overcoming the Lightning, the top team in the East and a legitimate Cup contender, was always going to be a tall task. Needing to defeat Tampa Bay three straight times in mustwin games is even more daunting.
“We’ve had good leadership all year long. we have a good team culture,” Hynes said. “I think if you look at our track record all year, we’re a team that responds.”