Tampa Bay Lightning forward Alex Killorn will remain out of the lineup for Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final on Friday night, coach Jon Cooper announced.
Killorn was injured midway through the first period of Tampa Bay’s 5-1 Game 1 win earlier this week and did not play on Wednesday night. He remains “day-to-day” for the series. He was injured when blocking a Jeff Petry shot.
Cooper also announced that the Lightning will stick with the exact same lineup as they used in their Game 2 win, with Mathieu Joseph remaining in the lineup. Joseph played 6:22 on Wednesday.
[NHL ON NBC STANLEY CUP PLAYOFF HUB]
Killorn has been one of the Lightning’s best players this postseason, currently sitting in the top-four in both goals (eight) and total points (17) in the playoffs. Along with the offensive production he is also a regular on their power play and penalty kill units, making him a difficult player to replace.
The good news for the Lightning, though, is their roster is so deep, and they have spent so much of the season playing without different star players, that they have had enough depth to overcome it.
They enter Game 3 in Montreal on Friday with a 2-0 series lead, having outscored the Canadiens by an 8-2 margin for the series.
2021 NHL playoff schedule: Stanley Cup Final - (TB leads 2-0)
Game 1: Lightning 5, Canadiens 1
Game 2: Lightning 3, Canadiens 1
Game 3: Fri. July 2: Lightning at Canadiens, 8 p.m. ET (NBC / Peacock) - livestream
Game 4: Mon. July 5: Lightning at Canadiens, 8 p.m. ET (NBC / Peacock) - livestream
*Game 5: Wed. July 7: Canadiens at Lightning, 8 p.m. ET (NBC / Peacock)
*Game 6: Fri. July 9: Lightning at Canadiens, 8 p.m. ET (NBC / Peacock)
*Game 7: Sun. July 11: Canadiens at Lightning, 7 p.m. ET (NBC / Peacock)
*if necessary
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Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.