Tampa Bay Lightning superstar Nikita Kucherov has been suspended one game for boarding Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Markus Nutivaara late in Game 2 on Friday night, the Department of Player Safety announced.
Here's the play, which occurred with less than five minutes remaining in the third period of Friday's 5-1 loss that put the top-seeded Bolts in a stunning 0-2 hole.
With Kucherov unavailable, here's what Tampa's line up looks like at practice Saturday:
After a league-leading 128 points in the regular season, Kucherov has been held pointless through two games versus Columbus.
Since jumping out to a 3-0 lead in Game 1, the Lightning have been out-scored 9-1, and they'll look to cut their series deficit in half without the Russian on Sunday night as the series shifts to Columbus.