Before Monday night’s game Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper repeated one of his favorite lines, saying that defenseman Anton Stralman was “indefinite until he’s not.”
It didn’t take Stralman long to make his presence on the ice and in the lineup very clear. He was playing his first game since fracturing his left leg in a March 25 game against the Islanders.
Stralman announced his return by scoring the Lightning’s opening goal and finishing with 18:39 of ice time in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Penguins in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference final.
Cooper said he thought it might have taken Stralman a couple of shifts to get his skates back under him, but once he did, he was back to the player that was second on the team in ice time per game in the regular season, averaging 22:04.