The Tampa Bay Lightning are again losing some of their defensive depth to injury. The Lightning announced that Emil Martinsen Lilleberg would miss the next two weeks after suffering a facial fracture at practice.
Tampa Bay didn’t specify how Lilleberg suffered the injury, but it’s likely he took an errant puck to the face at practice. It seems that this was an unfortunate accident during practice.
Although the Lightning have suffered multiple injuries on the blue line this season, the defensive corps is in much better shape than it has been for much of the campaign. Including Lilleberg, the Bolts have everyone else available except for Maxwell Crozier.
Today’s update is the second injury Lilleberg has suffered this season. Earlier this year, he missed approximately two months due to an undisclosed injury. In total, he’s skated in 35 games, scoring two goals and six points while averaging 16:56 of ice time.
Unfortunately, through no fault of his own, this season can’t be seen as anything other than a step back for Lilleberg. Last season, his first full year in the NHL, he finished with one goal and 19 points in 76 games with 114 hits. He won’t get near those totals this year, but he’s signed through next season at an incredibly affordable $800K salary, so he’ll have another opportunity to get his career back on track.