Tampa Bay Lightning Defenseman Out Week-To-Week

Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Erik Cernak will miss time due to an upper-body injury. Head coach Jon Cooper noted that he is likely week-to-week, but no definitive timeline has been revealed yet.

Cernak was injured against the Carolina Hurricanes after he blocked Andrei Svechnikov's shot. While looking at the replay, it appears as though that he gets hit in the wrist by it.

Why there is concern over Erik Cernak’s injury, with Jon Cooper saying @TBLightning defenseman is “probably” week to week https://t.co/LTletkCHch https://t.co/8ud5NgT3Zr
— Joe Smith (@JoeSmithTB) November 10, 2021

Not having Cernak in the lineup is a major loss for the Lightning. He is one of their best shutdown defensemen because of his stable play on the backend and immense physical presence. They are already without Nikita Kucherov for a long time of course, too.

At this said time, the Lightning aren't off to the most dominant of starts, either. They currently have a 6-3-3 record and are fourth in the Atlantic Division. The Boston Bruins are behind them by three points for fifth in the division, but also have two games in hand. Therefore, a prolonged losing streak would be bad for them.

Players like Cal Foote and Jan Rutta will likely be taking on bigger roles during Cernak's absence. Filling in for him will be hard task, but we will have to wait and see how they end up doing.