While Lightning sit and stew following loss, team pulls off a minor trade

by Erik Erlendsson | @Erik_Erlendsson | Like us on Facebook
February 25, 2017

TAMPA, Fla. – Nothing like sitting on the sidelines waiting for the chance to get back in to action.

For the Lightning, it’s almost like being sat in timeout for three days after falling to the Calgary Flames and being told to face the wall and think about what they just did.

Now, they have to sit around and stew over the 3-2 loss to the Calgary Flames before they return to action on Monday against Ottawa. To help pass the time, the Lightning did pull off a minor trade.

{mprestriction ids=”1,2″}

The team announced a minor league trade, sending Jeremy Morin to the Arizona Coyotes in return for power forward Stefan Fournier how offers plenty of size at 6-foot-3, 225 pounds but has shown little offense at the pro level.

Fournier went undrafted out of junior where he was a teammate of Jonathan Drouin in Halifax when the Mooseheads captured the Memorial Cup championship, picking up 17 goals and 33 points in 17 playoff games. He joined Montreal as a free agent starting in 2013-14, spending three seasons in the Canadiens’ minor league system. He had two goals and four points to go with 95 penalty minutes in 29 games this season with Tucson in the American Hockey League. Fournier’s most productive offensive season game in 2014-15 when he had five goals and eight points in 34 games in the AHL.

Morin, meanwhile, had nine goals and 21 points in 43 games with Syracuse this season after signing as a free agent during the summer. A former second-round pick of the Atlanta Thrashers in 2009, Morin has been with five different organizations since 2010-11 (Chicago, Columbus, Toronto, Tampa Bay and now Arizona) appeared in 82 career NHL games. He’s now been dealt five times in two-plus years.

Neither player figured to have any impact on the task in front of Tampa Bay in trying to reach the playoffs for a fourth consecutive season.

That’s where Thursday’s loss comes in to play.

Tampa Bay headed in to the showdown with Calgary with the chance to potentiall move to within two points. But following a half-energized effort, the Flames skated off with a 3-2 victory. Now, through action of Saturday night, the gap has widened to six points, with more games taking place on Sunday that will affect Tampa Bay’s spot in the standings.

Sitting idle while all of that is going on, doesn’t sit well for a proud team that has not lived up to expectations this season.

”It hurts a lot,’’ forward Alex Killorn said of the loss. “We’re leaving points on the table. We did have a good run (points in seven consecutive games). I think, going forward, we realize that now we have a ton of divisional games coming up. Those are going to be huge. We’ll learn from tonight. We’ll take what we can. We just have to come prepared, regardless of the team we’re playing.’’

The recent run of success, combined with 13 of the final 22 games coming against division opponents, provides that glimmer of hope despite heading in to a mini-break on the heels of the first regulation loss since Feb. 2.

”We pointed in seven straight, and you can’t sit here and say we were going to win every game down the stretch, but it was tough because we have to win these ones at home,’’ Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. “These are big for us. But you can sit here and say we lost to a Western Conference, so if there is any consolation, it wasn’t a four-point game.

“But Monday is a four-point game (against Ottawa), so that’s where we are looking now.’’

There was a bit of good news on Saturday as Drouin, who has been battling the flu and missed Thursday’s game, was a full participant in practice and is expected to be ready for Monday.

{/mprestriction}