Lightning center Brayden Point out for another game

TAMPA — Lightning top-line center Brayden Point will miss his second straight game tonight with a lower-body injury as Tampa Bay hosts the Flyers at Amalie Arena.

“He’s out tonight,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said following morning skate, in which Point did participate, at Amalie Arena. “Ask me in a week.”

After facing the Flyers, the Lightning have six off days before their next game Nov. 14 at home against Winnipeg. Cooper said that having the time off to allow Point to recover does factor into him not playing against Philadelphia.

“I would say that helps play into it, no question,” Cooper said.

Point is second on the Lightning with eight goals and tied for third in points with 13. He leads all forwards with a plus-9.

It appears that the Lightning are being particularly cautious with Point, who returned to the ice Thursday morning for the first time since exiting Sunday’s loss in Winnipeg. He played just six shifts against the Jets, his last one ending with 8:47 left in the first period.

While Point participated in most of the drills during the team’s abbreviated skate, he did not skate with the team’s first-team power-play unit — as one of the team’s only right-shot forwards, Mitchell Chaffee continued to fill his spot in the bumper position. Point instead watched the drills alongside head athletic trainer Tom Mulligan.

Point leads the Lightning with five power-play goals this season.

Without Point in the lineup, Gage Goncalves likely will draw into the lineup. The Lightning are expected to field a 12-forward, six-defenseman lineup with defenseman Darren Raddysh scratched along with Point.

Kyle Konin dresses as Flyers backup goaltender

The Lightning’s emergency backup goaltender, Kyle Konin, dressed in his third NHL game Thursday, active as the Flyers backup goaltender behind starter Ivan Fedotov after signing an amateur tryout contract.

The Flyers’ regular backup, Aleksei Kolosov, sustained a lower-body injury during morning skate at Amalie Arena, and they weren’t able to get a goaltender up from the AHL in time.

There is an EBUG in every NHL city who is available for situations just like this one, but they rarely get the opportunity to suit up. But this is the third time Konin, who is in his fifth season as the Lightning’s EBUG, dressed. In 2021, he was the backup for the St. Louis Blues in their trip to Tampa. And on April Fool’s Day last season, he was Andrei Vasilevskiy’s backup when Jonas Johansson was suddenly sidelined with a lower-body injury.

Konin — who operates a custom airbrushing and goaltender mask design business, Nujax Airbrush, in St. Petersburg — is constantly on call as the team’s EBUG. If the Lightning want to give one of their goaltenders a practice day off, he will be summoned to fill in, and during the offseason, he’s on call for the team’s informal skates.

The 26-year-old grew up a Lightning fan, spending most of his childhood in Clearwater, and he went to youth camps in Brandon and skated on the ice as a Thunder Kid before a game at Amalie Arena.

Fans have a say in selecting next Lightning Hall of Fame class

The team announced the nominees for this year’s Lightning Hall of Fame class, and fans can cast their votes exclusively on the Lightning app through Nov. 16.

The nominees are Ryan Callahan, Ben Bishop, Nikolai Khabibulin, Pavel Kubina, Jay Feaster, Brian Bradley, Henry Paul and Rick Peckham.

Selections will be made by a 10-person selection committee as well as the combined fan vote, which will count as an 11th vote.

This is the third year of the Lightning Hall of Fame, with Phil Esposito, Marty St. Louis and Vinny Lecavalier going in as the inaugural class, and Dave Andreychuk and Brad Richards joining them last year.

The new inductees will be honored during alumni weekend; details will be announced later.

One fan who votes on the Lightning app will win two tickets to the Hall of Fame ceremony and a pair of lower-level tickets to the Hall of Fame game.

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