On Wednesday, the Tampa Bay Lightning held a practice. At this time of year, that\u2019s a pretty rare thing. With the amount of games they\u2019ve played recently, rest is paramount to a team\u2019s success. However, there is always a need to refine aspects of their game, something that can only be done in a controlled environment like practice. Not everyone participated, however.<\/p>\n
The lines we saw at today\u2019s #GoBolts\u00a0\u00a0 practice:<\/p>\n
Guentzel-Point-Kucherov
\nGoncalves-Cirelli-Bjorkstrand
\nGirgensons-Gourde-Holmberg
\nPerry-Paul<\/p>\n
Moser-Raddysh
\nMcDonagh-Cernak
\nD\u2019Astous-Lilleberg
\nSantini<\/p>\n
Vasilevskiy
\nJohansson
\nKonin<\/p>\n
[image or embed]<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Benjamin Pierce (@boltsben.bsky.social<\/a>) April 1, 2026 at 12:36 PM<\/a><\/p>\n So, yeah, Ben\u2019s first post is probably the more interesting one. After practice, Coach Jon Cooper mentioned that Brandon Hagel is \u201cday-to-day\u201d and is looking \u201cdoubtful\u201d for Thursday\u2019s game against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Just as the top-six was reunited with Nikita Kucherov\u2019s return from illness, it looks like there will be some more shuffling if Hagel isn\u2019t able to go. <\/p>\n First off, day-to-day is definitely better than week-to-week or month-to-month, and Coach Cooper didn\u2019t seem overly concerned about the injury. Based on his ice time (22:21) against Montreal, it\u2019s hard to say if it\u2019s an injury or an illness that has him sidelined. He was on the ice for the majority of the end of the game as the league has his final shift at a hefty 3:00 long (that was broken up by penalties and the long review for the Jake Evans hit on Nikita Kucherov) and it didn\u2019t seem like he was laboring on the ice. <\/p>\n His absence will be a pretty big loss for the Bolts in a game that would be really nice for them to pick up two points. In the month of March, Hagel was tied with Jake Guentzel for the second-most points with 18 (7 goals, 11 assists). Among forwards, only Nikita Kucherov was on the ice more than Hagel\u2019s 20:31 a game. He had also been bumped up to the first power play unit in place of Oliver Bjorkstrand and contributed two goals and one assist with the extra skater. <\/p>\n While they were separated for portions of the month the line of Hagel, Kucherov, and Anthony Cirelli continued to be one of the team\u2019s top producing lines. During the 99:10 of 5v5 ice time the trio were on the ice the Lightning had a 9-3 advantage in goals scored while producing a 58.73% edge in expected goals. Not only that, seven of their goals came from high-danger areas while they weren\u2019t on the ice for a single high-danger goal against. They were one of Coach Cooper\u2019s most productive lines and he put them in situations where they could be effective. Over 63% of their face-offs came in the offensive zone.<\/p>\n It appears that the coaching staff is going to load up the first line with Jake Guentzel and Nikita Kucherov joining Brayden Point. They have played about 179 minutes together this season and have a 13-10 edge in goals scored, but are underwater in expected goals (44.92%), and high-danger chances (45.71%). How long they stay together is anyone\u2019s guess. It wouldn\u2019t be a surprise to see Coach Cooper flip Guentzel and Gage Goncalves at some point if the Lightning are struggling to generate chances against the Penguins.<\/p>\n As for Sabourin. He took a big hit towards the end of the game from Arber Xhekaj and then the two had a short tussle. It\u2019s possible he tweaked something at that point. Sabourin has own this season with the Lightning, appearing in 22 games while recording one goal and three assists. It\u2019s the most playing time he\u2019s had at the NHL level since his rookie season in Ottawa where he appeared in 35 games. <\/p>\n Lately, he\u2019s been rotating in and out of the line-up with Oliver Bjorkstrand on the fourth line depending on the match-ups. Bjorkstrand could end up being the big beneficiary with Sabourin and Hagel out of the line-up. The pending unrestricted free agent will probably see a little more ice time on the second line with Goncalves and Anthony Cirelli. He will also likely be back on the top power play unit, a spot he abdicated to Hagel in recent games. <\/p>\n It has not been the season that Bjorkstrand has hoped for as he\u2019s scored 11 goals with 18 helpers in 72 games. Along with being a healthy scratch recently, he\u2019s seen his ice time dwindle as he\u2019s taken up a role on the fourth line. To his credit, nine of his goals have come on the power play, and matches a career-high. <\/p>\n Injuries have been a constant for the Lightning all year, and for the most part, they\u2019ve been able to deal with them. With the regular season hitting it\u2019s final, compressed stage, it might not be the worst thing for some of the players to get an extra day or two off of the ice. If nothing more, it helps clear their head a bit. As long as their maladies don\u2019t linger too long, the absence of Hagel and Sabourin shouldn\u2019t affect the overall performance of the Bolts too much. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Wednesday, the Tampa Bay Lightning held a practice. 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