TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Tampa Bay defenseman Mikhail Sergachev was a surprise addition to the lineup and had an assist in the Lightning's Game 4 win against the Florida Panthers on Saturday night after being out since early February with a broken left leg.
Sergachev had surgery one day after he got hurt during a game at the New York Rangers on Feb. 8.
“I felt like a hockey player again.” Sergachev said after the Lightning avoided elimination with 6-3 victory over Panthers. “A little bit tired, obviously. I haven’t played for a little while."
Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper had said before the playoff series started that the top-four defenseman would miss the matchup. But in his pregame media session Saturday, Cooper indicated that some roster decisions would be made after the pregame skate.
The home crowd gave Sergachev a roaring ovation when introduced in the pregame starting lineup.
"The roar just kept going on,” Cooper said. “It was a stirring moment.”
Lightning captain Steven Stamkos said the ovation gave him “chills."
“You guys don’t get to see what goes on behind the scenes and the amount of work that goes into coming back from an injury like that, and it’s impressive,” Stamkos said “The timeline is impressive. Everything he’s done is extremely impressive, And to go out there and play and jump into a series when we were down and on the ropes, it was a huge boost for our team..”
Tampa Bay trails 3-1 in the series; Game 5 is at Florida on Monday night.
Sergachev appeared in 34 regular-season games, picking up two goals and 17 assists. He played 17:03 on 27 shifts Saturday.
“I found out yesterday the doc cleared me and it was a coach’s decision," Sergachev said. "So, I stayed at the rink longer waiting for coach to say yes or no and he said yes. I got very excited and I honestly couldn’t really sleep last night. It felt like a first NHL game again.”
Defenseman Darren Raddysh, limited to 13:11 of playing time in Thursday's Game 3, was scratched.
Defenseman Haydn Fluery, who hasn't appeared in game since being in a scary center-ice collision in the third period of a game at Pittsburgh on Apr. 16 with referee Steve Kozari, is practicing, but remains out.
Kozari, taken off on a stretcher following the collision, is back working in the playoffs..
AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
Tampa Bay Lightning left wing Brandon Hagel (38) celebrates his goal against the Florida Panthers with defenseman Erik Cernak (81) and defenseman Mikhail Sergachev (98) during the second period in Game 4 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series, Saturday, April 27, 2024, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Florida Panthers center Sam Reinhart takes down Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Mikhail Sergachev (98) during the third period in Game 4 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series, Saturday, April 27, 2024, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Mikhail Sergachev (98) stops Florida Panthers center Kevin Stenlund (82) during the first period in Game 4 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series, Saturday, April 27, 2024, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
WILDWOOD, N.J. (AP) — After a long week in court, Donald Trump is heading to the Jersey Shore. And he's being greeted by thousands of his friends.
Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, expects to draw what his team is calling a “mega crowd” to a Saturday evening rally in the southern New Jersey resort town of Wildwood. It was being held 150 miles (241 kilometers) south of the New York City courthouse where he has been forced to spend most weekdays sitting silently through his felony hush money trial.
The beachfront gathering is designed to serve as a show of force at a critical moment for Trump, a presidential candidate known for drawing huge crowds.
Hours before Trump was scheduled to take the stage, thousands of loyalists donning Trump's “Make America Great Again” hats and t-shirts gathered on the sand between the boardwalk and carnival rides to greet the former Republican president.
Trump campaign senior adviser Jason Miller said the “tens of thousands” expected attendees would be a notable contrast to the number that typically show up for President Joe Biden’s political events, which Miller described as being only “eight circles, two of which are empty.”
Trump's gathering in deep-blue New Jersey comes less than six months before Election Day.
The former president's extraordinary legal woes, which include three other unrelated criminal cases, have emerged as a central focus of the campaign.
Trump has repeatedly accused the Biden administration and Democratic officials in New York of using the legal system to block his return to the White House. Prosecutors allege the former president broke the law to conceal an affair with a porn actor that would have hurt his first presidential bid.
And while Trump will almost certainly seize on his legal woes Saturday, a judge's gag order — and the threat of jail — will limit Trump's ability to comment publicly on witnesses, jurors and some others connected to the New York trial, which is expected to consume much of the month. The judge in the case already has fined Trump $9,000 for violating the order and warned that jail could follow if he doesn’t comply.
Trump's responsibilities as a defendant have limited his ability to win over voters on the campaign trail.
He spent last week's off-day from court in the general election battlegrounds of Wisconsin and Michigan. And he's expecting to face a massive crowd Saturday in New Jersey, a reliably Democratic state. Parts of New Jersey have deep-red enclaves and the southern shoreline in particular draws tourists and summer homeowners from neighboring Pennsylvania, a key swing state.
Saturday’s visit to the New Jersey Shore resort isn’t Trump’s first.
While president, Trump held a rally there in January 2020 to thank Rep. Jefferson Van Drew, R-N.J., the congressman who had just left the Democratic Party for the GOP as a rebuke for the former president’s first impeachment.
Trump drew a crowd at the time that lined the streets, filled bars and supported numerous vendors in what is usually a sleepy city in the winter. This time, the summer season is around the corner for the resort known for its wide beaches and boardwalk games and shops.
Wildwood is in New Jersey’s 2nd District, which Van Drew has represented for three terms and covers all or part of six counties in southern New Jersey. It went for Trump in 2016 and again in 2020 after earlier backing Barack Obama.
Trump is set to return to the courtroom next week, when key prosecution witness Michael Cohen, Trump's fixer-turned-foe, is expected to take the witness stand. Last week, he was visibly angry at times as he was forced to sit through testimony from former porn actor Stormy Daniels, who described a sexual encounter with the former president in shocking detail.
Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying internal Trump Organization business records. The charges stem from paperwork such as invoices and checks that were deemed legal expenses in company records. Prosecutors say those payments largely were reimbursements to Cohen, Trump's attorney, who paid Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet.
The prosecution could rest its case by the end of the week. It's unclear if Trump himself will take the stand when the defense presents its case.
Peoples reported from New York.
FILE - Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Freeland, Mich., May 1, 2024. Trump is heading to the Jersey Shore after a long week in court. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)
