The Nashville Predators have had a trio of defensemen sidelined with injuries over the last two weeks, but one of them could be making a return to the lineup as soon as Nashville's March 26 home game against the Vegas Golden Knights.
Jeremy Lauzon, who has missed three games since March 19 with a lower-body injury, is back on the ice practicing with his teammates and indicated that his return to game action may be imminent.
"I feel really good," Lauzon said following the Predators' March 25 practice, at which he was a full participant. "I may be a game time decision [against Vegas]."
Lauzon's injury was the latest in a series of blueline casualties for the Predators, who also lost defensemen Dante Fabbro (2-3 weeks, upper-body) and Spencer Stastney (week-to-week, upper-body) to injuries within a week of each other. Fabbro's injury prompted the Predators to recall Stastney from the American Hockey League's Milwaukee Admirals on March 12, but Stastney took a big hit in the third period of Nashville's March 13 win over the Winnipeg Jets — his first game after being called up — and landed on the injury list himself.
Stastney's injury saw Tyson Barrie , who had been a regular healthy scratch as the team's extra defenseman, return to the lineup for the Predators' 4-1 win over the Seattle Kraken on March 16. Lauzon's injury qualified Marc Del Gaizo's call-up from Milwaukee on March 18 an emergency recall , meaning it does not count against Nashville's four regular recalls allowed after the trade deadline under the NHL's Collective Bargaining Agreement.
Related: How Jeremy Lauzon's Injury Impacts the Predators' Defense
Del Gaizo has skated in three games with the Predators since being recalled, logging 60:13 of ice time – including 4:42 on the penalty kill.
"He's been doing great," Lauzon said of Del Gaizo. "We're so lucky we have so much depth at D. Both of those guys [Del Gaizo and Stastney] would probably be in the NHL on any other team, so we're lucky to have them here."
Del Gaizo has also recorded 10 hits over three games, but the Predators have missed having Lauzon's physicality in the lineup. Prior to his injury, he had skated in every one of Nashville's 68 games, and he's already set a new franchise record for hits in a single season (321). Now at 327, he is just 56 hits away from breaking Matt Martin’s single-season NHL record; however, missing multiple games due to injury makes it less likely that he will be able to hit the mark this season.
Related: Jeremy Lauzon is the Predators' New Hit King
"I try not to think about [breaking the NHL record]," Lauzon said. "I just go out there and play my game."
With or without Lauzon in the lineup, the Predators will have a chance to extend their NHL-best point streak (15-0-2) to 18 games in Tuesday's contest against the Golden Knights. The game carries playoff implications for both teams, as Nashville and Vegas currently occupy the first and second Wild Card spots in the Western Conference, respectively.
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