The injury bug just keeps biting the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The latest loss comes in the form of an upper-body injury for hard-working forward J.T. Brown. The Bolts label Brown out indefinitely; the Tampa Bay Times puts it at least the remainder of their first-round series, if not longer.
Brown got hurt blocking a shot as the Lightning took a 2-0 series lead against the Detroit Red Wings.
#TBLightning J.T. Brown grimaces in pain moments after blocking a shot in game 2. https://t.co/iEBAWqiGWN pic.twitter.com/bYQrFMCGch
— Dirk Shadd (@DirkShadd) April 16, 2016
Losing Brown obviously isn’t on the scale of losing Steven Stamkos or Anton Stralman, yet Jon Cooper explained his value to the Tampa Bay Times and other media members.
“It’s our third playoffs together, and if you’re going to pull that unsung hero tag, he’s definitely at the top of the list,” Cooper said. “He won’t light the scoreboard up in points, but you’re not going to find too many more bigger gamers than J.T. Brown. That’s a tough loss for us. But in the mantra of the (Steven) Stamkos’ and (Anton) Stralman’s, let’s just keep this going and make sure that wasn’t J.T. Brown’s last game.”