Once you shake off the naivete that comes with sometimes getting a little too excited about results, following pre-season sports is often about crossing your fingers when it comes to injuries.
The Tampa Bay Lightning are doing that right now when it comes to pest Cedric Paquette, who was shaken up after blocking a shot during Saturday’s 6-3 loss to the Dallas Stars.
So far, it’s a wait-and-see situation, although there are a few notes to consider.
The good: Paquette was walking around after the contest, according to the Tampa Bay Times’ Greg Auman.
The bad: It’s concerning enough to at least call for an X-ray, Auman notes:
Cooper on Paquette: "He's getting X-rayed ... he took a good one. That was a pretty heavy shot. He's a tough kid though. Hopefully he's OK."
— Greg Auman (@gregauman) September 27, 2015
Paquette isn’t a make-or-break player for the Lightning, but you might be surprised how much of a difference a nuisance of a forward (with a dash of skill) can make.
Update: Sounds like they dodged a bullet.
X-rays on Paquette were negative, considered day to day #TBLightning
— Joe Smith (@JoeSmithNHL) September 27, 2015