Lightning ready to get back Moore's energy
Slowly and steadily, Dominic Moore worked his way back from a groin strain to get back on the ice for tonight's game against Toronto. Now he hopes to stay there.
Moore was forced to sit out the past five games after suffering the injury for the second time in a month. Originally Moore suffered the groin strain in the opening preseason game on Sept. 21 at Dallas, but tried to work his way through the injury while practicing. But he pushed it too far and was shut down following practice on Sept. 24.
The initial recovery had him questionable for the Oct. 9 season opener, but he was well enough to start the season and proved to be a force in the early going, notching four goals in the first five games of the season. He scored twice in an Oct. 18 victory against Dallas without Vinny Lecavalier in the lineup because of a finger injury.
Following the Oct. 24 home game against Nashville, however, the groin injury popped back up and put him back in the press box having to watch the action as opposed to being a part of the action.
"It's been pretty tough, I hate missing time, it's very frustrating because it's something that came back,'' Moore said following practice on Monday. "But at the same time, being patient is the right way to go about it because I don't want to miss any more time, that's for sure.''The team doesn't want Moore to miss any more time either because in the short time he has been here Moore has proved to be a valuable presence on the ice. While his offensive numbers stand out, Moore has won 56 percent of his faceoffs and been a main penalty killer, averaging just over two minutes of penalty kill time a game, third highest on the team.
"He's a good energy guy, penalty killer, he's been producing offensively, so when you lose a guy like that it's tough,'' center Steven Stamkos said. "He's a solid two-way player and we definitely missed him.''When any player goes down, it does present opportunities for others to step up. But often times that stop-gap presence can only hold down the fort for so long. The more time Moore missed, the more his absence was felt.
"He's one of those guys who is so upbeat and so smart and he picked up real quick what I wanted to do out here,'' Lightning coach Guy Boucher said. "Those guys you need around your team because they transpire that culture that you are trying to build. And with him not being there, you are OK for a game or two, but after a while it hurts you.
"And it's not just because of his play, but because he plays, it gives some of the other guys a chance to rest. I've been asking a lot of our top players to play the penalty kill and the power play, and the last game (Saturday's 5-2 loss in San Jose) guys were just drained.''Now Moore just has to ensure that he doesn't push himself back over that edge and put himself back in the press box during games.
"I think we are staying on top of it, making sure we do everything both maintenance wise and prevention wise and pretty much throw everything at it,'' Moore said. "It's tough (to sit out), that helpless feeling is not something that I'm accustomed to. I'm a pretty restless guy as it is, so I'm looking forward to getting back to it, for sure.''
Gagne better, but not ready
Injured LW Simon Gagne has been riding a stationary bike while he attempts to recover from what the team continues to call a strained neck he suffered on Oct. 22 against the New York Islanders. Gagne has not played since undergoing extensive testing over the past two weeks, including neurological examinations that have ruled out a concussion.
"He's better, but we are not going to get him on the ice yet, but he does feel better so that's good news,'' Boucher said. "It's a weird thing in his neck that has created an inner-balance. He's had an MRI on the back of the neck and there was nothing that showed that there was any problems there. And that's from the same guys who test NFL players, so that's very reliable. Now, we'll see, but it's more of a neck issue and there might have been some liquid in there that they want to drain, but that's a separate thing. So right now, we just don't want to push it.''
