Lightning’s Nick Paul leaves game with undisclosed injury

The Tampa Bay Lightning have announced that winger Nick Paul has left Tuesday’s game against the Ottawa Senators with an undisclosed injury.

Paul sustained the injury midway through the first period of the game when he took a hit along the boards from Senators center Ridley Greig. While Greig was the one who fell over after the hit, Paul went to the bench after a quick word with Greig, and did not return to the game, with the Lightning confirming that he would miss the rest of the game during the second period.

There are currently no details about what Paul’s injury is, how severe it is, or how long he’s expected to be out with the injury. It’s possible that we learn more from Lightning head coach Jon Cooper after the game against the Senators, but we may also not get more information until closer to Tampa Bay’s next game on Thursday against the Detroit Red Wings.

Paul had just a faceoff win and the hit taken on his stat sheet in only three shifts totaling 1:17 of ice time before his departure.

Paul has had another season on par with his production since joining the Lightning in 2022, as he has 14 goals and 14 assists for 28 points in 46 games played this year. That puts him on pace to tie his previous career high of 46 points set last season, although in five fewer games due to the time he’s missed already this season.

With Paul out of the lineup, it appears that Luke Glendening has replaced Paul on the third line in between Zemgus Girgensons and Gage Gonclaves. The trio has spent 12:18 of ice time together this season prior to Tuesday’s game, where they’ve been outscored 1-0 but have an 88.57% 5v5 expected goal share.

Should Paul miss any more time beyond Tuesday’s game, the Lightning have no skaters on their roster who weren’t already in the game, so they will need to call someone up from their AHL affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch.