Even with the end of the regular season nearly a month behind them, the Lightning still haven't managed to hide from the black cloud of bad luck that hovered over the franchise since August.

On May 6, veteran center Jeff Halpern suffered a ruptured ACL in his right knee while representing the United States in the World Hockey Championships in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Halpern also suffered a sprain of his MCL and a slight tear of the meniscus. Once Halpern recovers from the MCL sprain, he will undergo reconstructive surgery on his ACL tendon that is expected to require 5-to-6 months of recovery time.

The 32-year-old forward had his skate blade stick in the ice when he was hip checked by Canada defenseman Brent Burns while Halpern carried the puck through the neutral zone. He flew to Washington, D.C., on May 7 to see Washington Capitals' team physician Benjamin Shaffer, who performed surgery on the MCL tendon in Halpern's left knee in 2002.

Heading into the start of next season, Halpern had been expected to anchor the third-line center role although he scored 10 goals and 18 points in 19 games with Tampa Bay in a second-line capacity after being acquired from Dallas at the trade deadline. He also was expected to take over a leadership role, something he had begun to do in the final month of last season.

Halpern is the seventh Lightning player since late September to incur an injury that required major surgery. Defenseman Dan Boyle needed two surgeries to his left wrist to repair three severed tendons after a skate fell from above his locker stall, the second after only one tendon correctly reattached to the bone. Left winger Ryan Craig missed the final 59 games of the season following surgery on his left knee. Center Chris Gratton missed the final 19 games following hip surgery while defenseman Brad Lukowich flew to Germany for sports hernia surgery in February that forced him to miss 21 games.

In addition, center Vinny Lecavalier and defenseman Paul Ranger each underwent shoulder surgery last month to repair a torn labrum.

SEASON HIGHLIGHT
The Lightning thumped division rival Carolina 6-1 on Nov. 14 for their fourth consecutive victory as center Vinny Lecavalier factored in on five of the six goals with a hat trick and two assists. Lecavalier capped off the night by completing his hat trick with a shorthanded goal against former teammate John Grahame.

TURNING POINT
There was plenty of hype on Dec. 13 surrounding Calgary's first visit to Tampa since Game 7 of the 2004 Stanley Cup finals, but the game turned out to be anything but another Cup final preview. The Lightning came into the game on a 3-1-1 stretch to pull its record to .500. Despite scoring six goals against Miikka Kiprusoff, Tampa Bay lost by three goals, starting a downward spiral to its season. The loss was the first of three in succession and began a stretch of seven losses in eight games and one win in 11 games. The loss to Calgary also marked the end of goaltender Marc Denis' career in a Lightning uniform; he was sent down to the minors shortly after suffering the loss in relief.

Copyright (C) 2008 The Sports Xchange. All Rights Reserved.