Lightning Fans, Rejoice

Victor Hedman is back. After missing 18 games with a fractured finger, the second-overall pick of the 2009 draft returned to the ice in full form on Saturday night. He accrued a plus-2 rating in 19:55 of ice-time, posted three shots, two hits and blocked two shots as the Lightning burned the Senators, 4-1, in Tampa Bay.

I’m sure fans would have loved to hear Hedman’s name in the starting lineup, but they were probably happy enough to have him back in the lineup that they didn’t care. Although, it would have been a nice gesture by head coach Jon Cooper to give him the nod. He ended up playing on the first line with Anton Stralman, and they shut down Ottawa’s less than stellar offense in route to gaining the top spot in the Atlantic Division.

Nooks and Crannies

Andrej Sustr celebrated his 24th birthday with a win.

Brendan Morrow scored his first goal as a member of the Lightning.

Ryan Callahan extended his weirdly awesome streak – since coming to Tampa Bay from the New York Rangers in the latter part of last season, the Lightning have won every game in which he has scored in. That streak has been extended to 14 games. In those 14 games, Cally has managed to tally 17 goals and seven assists, or 24 of his 30 points as a member of Tampa Bay. Callahan has scored two goals in each game against his former team this year – one game at MSG and one at Amalie – let’s see if he can keep that streak alive as well when the Lightning travel to New York to face the Rangers on Monday, Dec. 1st.