The first game out of the All-Star break featured a welcome-back gift for Tampa Bay head coach Guy Boucher.
After missing nine players due to injury in the final game heading into the week-long break, the Lightning returned from the break with four of those players Victor Hedman, Ryan Shannon, Tom Pyatt and JT Wyman back in the lineup for Tuesday's 4-3 overtime victory against Southeast division-leading Washington.
Hedman missed 13 games with a concussion, Shannon 14 games with a knee sprain, Wyman nine games with a finger laceration, while Pyatt had missed three games with a lower-body injury. Hedman logged over 18 minutes in his return, Wyman picked up an assist, Pyatt was back on a line with Vinny Lecavalier and Marty St. Louis, while Shannon played over seven minutes.
"We still have some important guys missing, but at least it's not nine like it was for the past month or so," said Boucher.
While Marc Andre Bergeron, who leads the team in points among defensemen, and Ryan Malone remain out for the time being, the team is getting healthy at a key time in the season as Tampa Bay looks to increase its winning streak to six when Winnipeg comes to town on Thursday. Getting the walking wounded back onto the ice will help to continue building on some of the confidence built the past few weeks.
"We've built our game up, plain and simple," Boucher said. "You look at the games in the last month, month and a half, we've built up our game and confidence.
