The Tampa Bay Lightning will be down at least one forward for their upcoming road trip through the Pacific Division. According to Eduardo A. Encina of the Tampa Bay Times, the Lightning have placed Scott Sabourin on the team’s injured reserve.
It’s not difficult to assess what Sabourin’s injury stems from. One day after accruing 26 PIMs and a fine against the Florida Panthers, Sabourin took on Montreal Canadiens defenseman Arber Xhekaj in a heavyweight tilt.
Xhekaj ultimately won the exchange handily, which assuredly caused Sabourin’s placement on the IR today. It appears that Xhekaj knew Sabourin was injured mere moments after the fight concluded, as video shows him and the linesman urgently calling the Lightning’s medical staff to attend to Sabourin.
Unfortunately, it’s the price of doing business for how Sabourin plays the game. Although the ’enforcer’ class is slowly dying off in the modern game, Sabourin has respectably carved out a career path as a tough guy. This season with Tampa Bay, he’s already racked up 63 PIMs in just nine contests.
Since he isn’t relied upon to help put pucks in the net, though he does have three points on the year, the Lightning’s lineup won’t need too much shifting around ahead of their upcoming road trip. Sabourin was typically found on the team’s fourth line, so the team could easily replace him with fellow enforcer Curtis Douglas, who was a healthy scratch in the contest against the Canadiens.
Scott appeared to take a strong punch to the jaw. It had to hurt and likely rang his bell for a concussion. He may be a heavy weight, but he gave up 40 lbs in the brawl, but took it like a man. Best wishes for a quick return as the Panthers return to Tampa in February and the thug cats need another beat down.