After a two week break, the Tampa Bay Lightning are back in business and looking for a season sweep over the Seattle Kraken on Sunday at Amalie Arena.
All five players who competed in the 4 Nations Tournament are expected to participate. Victor Hedman who captained Team Sweden, was back on the ice for practice on Saturday. Brayden Point, Anthony Cirelli, Brandon Hagel and Jake Guentzel were absent but are expected to play on Sunday against Seattle.
“Sometimes guys leaving those tournaments, they’re flying. The speed and intensity of those games is so high that, you know, you’re hoping that they come back and their level is at the same pace and play,” said Lightning assistant coach Jeff Halpern.
“We would expect, especially those guys, nothing different. So, I don’t think we’ve really talked about specifics, other than those guys coming back and jumping right in.”
The world was introduced to Lightning forward Brandon Hagel at the tournament after he dropped the gloves with Florida Panthers captain Matthew Tkachuk at the opening face-off.
“I love the personality that he brings to our team, and probably to Canada as well, said Hedman. "The way he works and competes out there. And yeah, it was a lot of fun. You look at one channel they have an Allstar game, you go over to the next channel, you have three fights in the first 9 seconds.”
“I thought it was great for our game and Hags in particular, just the way he played, all those guys played really well. The way he took that fight and obviously backed it up.”
Sometimes an extended break from hockey can come with an adjustment period for the players to get back into their normal rhythm. While the 4 Nations Tournament was massive for the sport as whole, the focus has quickly shifted back to locking in a playoff spot for the Lightning. They enter the final stretch of the season in the third place, with 6 of their next eight games being played at home.
“For us, we just have to keep it simple,” Hedman said. “The first period is probably going to be a little bit of a ‘feel out process’ to see where we are.”
“For guys that have played, we’ve got to try and push the pace and be as much help as we can to our teammates.”