Another Lightning prospect set to make NHL debut

by Erik Erlendsson | @Erik_Erlendsson | Like us on Facebook
December 28, 2016

TAMPA, Fla. While the Lightning will return to the ice tonight expecting to ice a healthier version of the team than it had before the three-day break for Christmas, they are not 100-percent healthy.

Though Nikita Kucherov, Ondrej Palat, Jonathan Drouin, Braydon Coburn and Vladislav Namestnikov are all expected back tonight, Cedric Paquette will miss tonight’s game against Montreal (Fox Sports Sun, 970-WFLA, 7:30 p.m.) with a lower body injury. Paquette briefly appeared at practice on Tuesday but left after about 10 minutes and did not return.

That left Tampa Bay with just 12 healthy forwards at the end of practice, with one of those forwards being converted defenseman Nikita Nesterov. So the Lightning once again dipped in to the farm system at Syracuse to give another on the team’s prospects a chance to make their NHL debut.

{mprestriction ids=”1,2″}

Late Tuesday afternoon Matthew Peca was called up by the team and was on the ice for Wednesday’s morning skate before facing the Canadiens. Peca took line rushes as the fourth line center between Michael Bournival and J.T. Brown while Paquette did not skate.

With Nesterov dressed as a defenseman for the morning skate, Peca, a former Hobey Baker candidate in the NCAA, is set to play in his first career NHL game, wearing No. 63.

“He’s got skill, he’s got speed and he competes,” Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. “In my time in the American (Hockey) League, there is a transition between college and pro and you have to learn that transition. The rigors of the schedule alone are demanding and that’s what the American League does for guys, it’s unbelievable development and Peca has done that.

“And it’s been our mantra forever, you earn your call ups and he’s earned his right.”

Peca will become the fifth member of the 2011 Lightning draft class to reach the NHL level, joining Vladislav Namestnikov, Nikita Kucherov, Ondrej Palat and Nesterov. The only player from that year yet to appear in an NHL game is goaltender Adam Wilcox.

“A couple of guys have been called up throughout the year, which I think speaks to our depth in Syracuse so I’m just happy and fortunate to get the call,” Peca said. “I just want to play my game, use my speed and try to fit in to their system as best I can.”

Peca was the first of two seventh-round selections that year, the 201st overall pick from Pembroke in the Central Canada Hockey League where he played under former Lightning forward Sheldon Keefe. Peca went on to play college hockey at Quinnipiac University where he enjoyed a standout collegiate career for an emerging program. In four years with the Bobcats, Peca finished with 42 goals and 143 points, leading the team in assists in three of his four seasons, helping them reach the Frozen Four title game in 2013. The Bobcats lost the championship game to Yale.

Now in his second full pro season – he signed an amateur tryout agreement at the end of the 2015 season – Peca has recorded 14 goals and 64 assists in 101 games to goal with a goal and two points in three playoff games in 2015.

{/mprestriction}

Peca’s stats from HockeyDB