Stamkos unlikely to play in round-robin clash Monday vs. Capitals

The Tampa Bay Lightning aren't expecting captain Steven Stamkos to be available for Monday's round-robin contest versus the Washington Capitals.

"We never really, in any of our plans, had him playing in this first game, so not sure any of that's really changed," head coach Jon Cooper said, according to Bryan Burns of the team's website.

Stamkos suffered a lower-body injury in Phase 2 of the NHL's return-to-play plan and has been in and out of Tampa's practices ever since. Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois said last week Stamkos should be fully healthy for the postseason.

The Lightning enter the bubble in Toronto as the second seed in the Eastern Conference. They'll battle the other top four teams (Washington, Boston, and Philadelphia) to determine seeds 1-4 for the traditional postseason format.

Stamkos, 30, recorded 29 goals and 37 assists in 57 games this season.

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