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Lightning move to first in Atlantic, but bad Stralman news taints victory

The Tampa Bay Lightning beat the New York Islanders 7-4 in a rip-roaring game. They moved, at least briefly, into first place in the Atlantic Division by doing so. And they probably feel pretty empty.

That’s what happens when an injury overshadows your successes, which is absolutely the case on Friday, as the team announced that Anton Stralman is out indefinitely “with a non-displaced fracture of his left fibula.”

(You can see that awkward fall in the video above. If you’re a Lightning fan, you may especially want to skip it.)

Brutal, just brutal. Obviously, “out indefinitely” is openly vague, but a fracture implies a pretty long stay on the shelf. It’s possible that the Lightning won’t see Stralman again until 2016-17.

Head coach Jon Cooper seems more optimistic, however:

Let’s summarize just how important Stralman is to a Lightning team that was rising to the challenge after a somewhat disappointing start to 2015-16.

Big blow, no doubt.

Anders Lee seems sad about it:

Note: Nikita Kucherov was shaken up during the game, too, but returned for a shift. He’s another guy to watch.