Stop the presses: the Tampa Bay Lightning aren’t being particularly up-front about an injury situation in the 2015 Stanley Cup Final. This time around, we’re left to speculate about the status of winger Nikita Kucherov.
At this point, you might as well stick with what’s happening, and all you need to know is that Kucherov hasn’t been on the ice since he crashed into Chicago’s net in the first period. He missed all of the middle frame thanks to this violent fall:
Right now, the only updates are non-updates:
Still no update on Nikita Kucherov, who left early in the first period after hitting his upper body against the po... http://t.co/DL1qzo3Isr
— Joe Smith (@JoeSmithNHL) June 14, 2015
#lightning are saying Nikita Kucherov is still evaluated. They don't want to say he's out yet.
— Renaud Lavoie (@renlavoietva) June 14, 2015
Perhaps we’ll find out more after Game 5? Maybe he’ll grit through it in the third period? We’ll keep an eye out for updates going forward, but details are slim right now.