After missing more than a month due to a lower-body injury, Brayden Point looks to be ready to return to the Tampa Bay Lightning lineup for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday night.
Point was injured just five minutes into Game 7 of the Lightning’s First Round series win against the Toronto Maple Leafs and has not played since. He missed all four games of their Second Round sweep of the Florida Panthers and the entire Eastern Conference Final against the New York Rangers.
As the latter series went on Point kept getting closer and closer to a return but never actually got cleared.
[NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs 2022 schedule, TV info]
After taking part in practice on Tuesday and working with the team’s top power play, head coach Jon Cooper said everything looks like a go for Point in Game 1 on Wednesday.
It is a massive lift to the Lightning lineup as they look to win their third Stanley Cup in a row.
Point is one of the league’s best overall players and adding him back makes the Lightning that much stronger. Without Point Tampa Bay’s offense has been pretty top-heavy over the past two rounds with Nikita Kucherov, Steven Stamkos, and Ondrej Palat driving a lot of it. They are going to need to be a little more balanced against a Colorado team that also boasts one of the best offensive lineups in the league and an elite defense.
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In 66 games during the regular season Point scored 28 goals, 30 assists, and 58 total points.
He scored two goals and two assists in the First Round series against Toronto before being injured.
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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.