Bogosian picked up a lower-body injury on Opening Night that caused him to miss a month. He returned in the middle of November and played in 14-straight games before being a late scratch for a December 11th contest against Ottawa. Bogosian missed just that one game and played in the next five, but once again went down with another lower-body injury on December 30. He had just returned last Tuesday, skating in that contest against the Sabres and both games of Tampa Bay's recent homestand.
Following practice, head coach Jon Cooper confirmed this was a new injury and not a setback from his most recent ailment.
"Our poor D are taking a beating," Cooper said. "I guess its's the unfortunate side of things, but hopefully we can get this out of us soon. A couple weeks isn't too bad. It's a lot better than six to eight."
A few days ago, it appeared the Lightning were getting closer to having all six of their top defensemen healthy at the same time. Ryan McDonagh, Erik Cernak and Bogosian were all either back in the lineup or close to a return, but with this newest injury, the Bolts will still be at least a few weeks away from full strength.
"It's not ideal, but other guys are getting to play and they're doing a good job for us," Cooper said. "If you go through this, it's better to go through it now than come playoff time. There's a lot of time left in the season, and we do have what I'm hoping will be some sort of a break in February coming up. So hopefully we can get though these 10 or so games we have left [before the break]… and then when we get that final push the last two months, hopefully we'll have all the guys healthy."
With Bogosian out of the lineup, the Lightning will need to make adjustments to the right side of the defense. Mikhail Sergachev, a natural lefty, skated on the right with McDonagh on Monday and has experience flipping sides in the past.
"That was a challenge, it took me a couple years [to feel comfortable]," Sergachev said. "My whole second year I was playing with Braydon Coburn on the right side."
After missing practice on Monday, Cooper said Cernak's status for tomorrow's game was "a big question mark." Cernak was listed as a game-time decision on Saturday but did not skate.
Ondrej Palat was also absent from the session but is still considered day-to-day and is expected to return at some point on the three-game trip.
"We'll see tomorrow at the skate," Cooper said. "If he doesn't play tomorrow, I expect he'll play on the weekend."
The Bolts begin a three-game swing through California on Tuesday night against the Kings. They'll then face the Ducks and Sharks in a back-to-back on Friday and Saturday before returning home.
