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Lightning’s terrible night: Game vs. Flyers, Johnson, Hedman all lost

R.J. Umberger, Mark Barberio, Evgeni Nabokov

R.J. Umberger, Mark Barberio, Evgeni Nabokov

AP

The Tampa Bay Lightning suffered a 7-3 blowout loss to the Philadelphia Flyers tonight. It was the Lightning’s worst defeat of the season and that wasn’t even the low point of the night for them.

Tampa Bay announced that forward Tyler Johnson and defenseman Victor Hedman both sustained lower-body injuries during the contest. Hedman was forced to exit the game late in the first period while Johnson’s night ended in the second frame.

The extent of their injuries wasn’t immediately apparent, but any length of time Tampa Bay has to go without those two would be trying for the club. Johnson, who was named to the All-Star roster, has 17 goals and a team-leading 46 points in 43 contests. Hedman was averaging 22:21 minutes per contest and had 20 points in 25 games before Monday’s game.

Although Tampa Bay held its own early in this contest, the tide turned when Jakub Voracek and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare scored 51 seconds apart in the second period to give the Flyers a 4-1 edge. Tampa Bay responded by pulling goaltender Evgeni Nabokov, but Ben Bishop didn’t fare any better.

That took the pressure off Flyers goaltender Rob Zepp, who was playing in his second career game because Steve Mason has a knee injury. Zepp stopped 21 of 24 shots, which proved to be more than enough for him to improve to 2-0-0.

Related:

Braydon Coburn sustains lower-body injury

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