The Tampa Bay Lightning are looking to win their second game of the young NHL season. They are preparing to take on a Detroit Red Wings team with three straight wins under its belt. Unfortunately, they will not have superstar forward Nikita Kucherov on the ice once the puck drops Friday night.
Kucherov was ruled out of the game before it started. The Lightning announced he had come down with an illness. As a result, the team will be without one of its primary superstars and one of the best players in the game. Young forward Gage Goncalves will take his spot on the first line right wing.
Kucherov is an important part of the Lightning's offense, as well as one of its greatest players in franchise history. The Russian superstar is looking to build upon a 2024-25 campaign that saw him record 115+ points for the third straight year. He finished with 37 goals and 121 points in 78 games.
He was a vital part of Tampa's dominant run in the late 2010s and early 2020s. The Lightning won two straight Stanley Cups and made a third Final appearance from 2020 to 2022. He recorded 30+ points in 2020 and 2021 to help Tampa win the Cup. And in 2022, he finished the postseason with 27 points.
Unfortunately, the Lightning have not made it back to the Stanley Cup Final since 2022. In fact, they haven't made it past the first round in the three postseasons since. They lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2023 before falling to the Florida Panthers in each of the last two seasons.
The Lightning are off to a bit of a slower start this season. Tampa dropped its first two games of the season, allowing 10 goals across those contests. They eventually won their first game over the Boston Bruins on October 13th. However, they dropped their most recent game to the Washington Capitals.
