There were a couple of unwelcome regular season trends that carried over to the postseason in the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Game One loss to the Montreal Canadiens. The Lightning were behind early. They came back to tie the Habs late, only to give up the go-ahead, and in this case, game-winning goal. The most unwelcome continuing trend was a Lightning player leaving the game early due to an injury.
Last night it was defenseman Charle-Edouar D’Astous who only played 9:35, leaving the game in the second period after taking a hit from Josh Anderson.
Josh Anderson ➡️ Charle-Edouard D’Astous • #HFhits
#GoHabsGo 🆚 #GoBolts • #NHL 2026 APR 19
• Anderson received a charging minor
vid via @sportsnet
— HockeyFights.com (@hockeyfights.bsky.social) April 19, 2026 at 8:06 PM
The hit can be litigated from now until the sun goes dark, but the effect of the hit was that D’Astous was out for the rest of the game, and based on his head coach’s comments, will probably miss the next game,
“You never want to have guys out, but he’s doubtful for tomorrow, which is unfortunate…but we’ve got Crow and Carly and guys ready to go in that have really helped us during the year, so one of those guys will be in.”
With the loss of D’Astous, the Lightning are down one of their most reliable puck-carriers from the blue line.
Viz and data courtesy of All Three Zones
Is he Cale Makar? No, but for a Lightning team that can, on occasion, get pinned into their own zone, he was a one-skater release valve. Not only was he a valuable part of the defense, but growing up in Rimouski, he was extremely motivated to play against his hometown Canadiens.
As has been the story all season, though, it’s next skater up for the Lightning. D’Astous got his shot earlier in the season in part due to injuries, so the circle completes itself as his injury will open the door for someone else.
How long will he be out? Well, don’t count on the Lightning to give a straight answer to that, but Erik Erlendsson is reporting that it “might be a longer absence than just Game 2”.
That someone else is likely to be Max Crozier (“Crow”) or Declan Carlile (“Carly”). All things being equal, if he’s at 100%, Crozier probably has the inside track for the role. The 26-year-old won the spot in training camp, rotated in and out of the line-up early before becoming a regular in mid-November. A core injury suffered in the Stadium Series sidelined him until the final game of the season.
He finished the season with 10 points (1 goal, 9 assists) in 35 games while averaging 16:01 of ice time. One benefit of Crozier returning to the line-up is that, as a right shot, he would allow Emil Lilleberg to flip back to his natural left-side of the ice. That duo spent some time on the ice together (79:36) and posted positive possession numbers. The Lightning had a 62.50% edge in goals scored, 52.63% in scoring chances, and a 55.56% advantage in high-danger chances.
A Carlile/Lilleberg would feature two left-handed shots, but the Lightning have spent most of the season with at least one of their defenders playing on their off side. This duo didn’t spend a lot of time together, but they can say that the Lightning didn’t allow a goal in their 8:55 of 5v5 time together. In fact they just didn’t allow much offense at all with a 0.46 xGA/60 during their tenure.
As the above chart shows, neither Carlile nor Crozier are going to replace D’Astous’ ability to get the puck out of the zone. That responsibility will likely fall on Emil Lilleberg’s shoulders, and he has been surprisingly adept at carrying the puck out of the zone. One thing to keep an eye on will be how the Canadiens attack either player inserted in the line-up. Each had their issues when dealing with the forecheck, as both ranked fairly low in regards to successful retrievals among Lightning defenseman according to All Three Zones.
If Carlile does draw in, he would be making his playoff debut. Crozier appeared in three games during the Lightning’s 2023-24 series against the Florida Panthers.