TAMPA, Fla. — When Jon Cooper’s cellphone started ringing sometime after dinner on Monday night and Tom Mulligan’s name came up on the display, his heart sunk.
“There’s absolutely nothing good coming from the call,” said Cooper.
It was the call from the Tampa Bay Lightning’s athletic therapist to inform the coach that veteran forward Ryan Callahan had been taken to hospital for an emergency appendectomy. That it came the night before Game 6 of a second-round playoff series with Montreal only complicated Cooper’s reaction.
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Callahan hasn’t yet scored this post-season but he’s one of the players the coach trusts. And, barring a medical miracle, he won’t be able to suit up on Tuesday night — although the Lightning weren’t totally ready to concede that following the morning skate.
“I think it’s something that just because of the way medical practices are today, it’s much easier to come back from than I think in the past,” said Cooper. “You’ve got to give a lot of credit to our docs and stuff, we got to it before anything really bad (happened). The word ‘ruptured,’ could have happened. Who knows? Stranger things could happen.
“How long’s the game from now? He’s a pretty tough kid.”
With the Lightning leading this series 3-2 and trying to close things out for a third time, there will be an emphasis on the details of the game. One mistake could be enough to open the door for a Game 7 at the Bell Centre.
Absolutely no one inside the Tampa dressing room wants to endure that.
As such, it appeared possible that Cooper might turn to Jonathan Marchesseault rather than highly touted rookie Jonathan Drouin to fill Callahan’s spot in the lineup.
Marchesseault is a 24-year-old with only four games of NHL experience on his resume. He’s been part of the team’s Black Aces and didn’t even travel to Montreal for Game 5, but will take part in the warmup on Tuesday.
“The coach told me to come ready to play,” said Marchesseault. “I’m going to do warmups and he’s going to tell me after warmups if I’m in or not. … I’m pretty excited but I’ve got to have some composure too.”
One thing we’ve learned about Cooper is that he’s unafraid to shake things up. He’s often gone with 11 forwards and seven defencemen — Tampa deployed that setup for Game 5 — and wouldn’t tip his hand as to which way he was leaning on Tuesday.
Vladislav Namestnikov is another candidate to enter the lineup at forward while it remains to be seen if seventh defenceman Nikita Nesterov remains in.
The fact Drouin doesn’t really seem to be part of the conversation is a bit surprising. The 20-year-old was drafted third overall in 2013 and has a bright future ahead, but has been unable to keep his coach’s confidence this spring.
He’s appeared in just three games during these playoffs after dressing for 70 in the regular season.
Risk aversion is where Callahan’s absence hurts most. He wasn’t on the ice for any of Montreal’s 12 goals against in the opening five games of this series.
“He’s a leader on our team,” said Cooper. “He’s extremely important. He plays with passion, grit. He plays with all those things that help you win. But he plays with such character and grace.
“You win with guys like Ryan Callahan.”
Now they have to find a way to win without him. The path to the Eastern Conference final will be just a little bit tougher.
