TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Craig Laboring To Return To Action

ADVERTISEMENT

The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 25, 2007

WASHINGTON - Ryan Craig has been laboring coming off the ice, sweat profusely dripping off the bridge of his nose as he walks in full gear toward the Lightning locker room.

Craig has not played in a game since the second exhibition contest, coming down with what turned out to be a herniated disc in his back. Just the fact that he is back on the ice and skating is a good sign, but he is not ready to get back to action just yet.

In the first couple of weeks of his back injury, Craig was limited in any type of physical activity, even finding it difficult to bend down to tie his shoes or pull up his shorts. His conditioning level is nowhere near ready for game action at this point.

'I have some work ahead of me to get back to where I need to be,' Craig said following Wednesday's morning skate. 'The past few days, I have been able to get in some work, and I'm trying to push myself as hard as I can to get back into shape.'

Whenever the training staff gives Craig the go-ahead, it doesn't mean he'll immediately return to the lineup. Lightning coach John Tortorella said the team has discussed the possibility of a minor-league conditioning assignment to get him some playing time.

'With Ryan, we just want to see how he progresses, how he conditions and continue to let him work to see how his back responds,' Tortorella said. 'When we are told that the training staff thinks he is healthy enough to come back playing a conditioning assignment is something we are going to have to think about, especially with his injury where he just hasn't been able to do a whole bunch, just to try to get into some sort of game speed.

'We'll make that decision as it gets closer and see how he feels after these conditioning days he has coming up.'

SPLITTING TIME: With Wednesday's game the front half of a back-to-back, G Marc Denis got his first start of the season against Washington. With the schedule beginning to condense in the coming weeks, Denis will likely see more time in net after Johan Holmqvist got the call in the first six games of the season.

'We are not looking ahead, but both goalies have to play during the year, but as far as how it all shakes out, we haven't looked that far ahead,' Tortorella said.

Holmqvist will get the start tonight against Philadelphia on home ice, where he is 4-0 this year.

NUTS AND BOLTS: D Paul Ranger registered his ninth career multi-point game - and second in a row - and scored his first career shorthanded goal in the second period. The goal was the sixth of his career and first since Feb. 25, 2007. ... C Andreas Karlsson and D Matt Smaby were healthy scratches. ... Washington activated RW Alexander Semin off injured reserve before the game. ... Tampa Bay has five shorthanded goals against Washington in the past nine meetings. ... C Vinny Lecavalier was hit with 19 penalty minutes for his third-period fight with Shaone Morrisonn. Lecavalier received five minutes for fighting, two each for slashing and an instigator and a 10-minute misconduct at the 5:39 mark.

Erik Erlendsson

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT