Brayden Point on bench for second period, dealing with injury in Game 7 vs. Maple Leafs

Update — Point has only skated 5:51 of ice time, so he hasn’t seen the ice since that first shift in the second period. The Lightning have allowed the Maple Leafs to tie the game 1-1 on a goal by Morgan Reilly. The Bolts have shuffled their lines as a result of Point’s injury. Nick Paul was moved up and Cirelli will be with Kucherov the rest of the game it seems.

Update — So Point started the period and took a shift, but is clearly in a lot of pain. We may see the Bolts yank him or keep him on the bench. We’ll see what happens. Either way, it looks like Tampa Bay could be down Point for the rest of the game. At the very least he isn’t 100 percent. Anthony Cirelli is centering the top line with Nikita Kucherov and Ondrej Palat.

Update — Point appears to be fine and is out there for the start of the second period of Game 7 vs. the Maple Leafs on Saturday night. We’ll keep an eye on him throughout the rest of the game. If the Lightning advance, it could be worth monitoring heading into the second round.

Tampa Bay Lightning C Brayden Point may be dealing with an injury sustained late in the first period of Game 7 vs. the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night. Point is checked by defenseman Mark Giordano and goes hard into the wall, falling awkwardly and grabbing his lower body while down. Check out this video courtesy of TicTocTOmar on Twitter.

At this point, nothing is official. We haven’t heard anything from the Lightning so far in the first intermission. We’ll have to wait and see if Point is out there with his teammates at the beginning of the second period. If Point isn’t out there and is held out, that would be a huge loss for Tampa Bay, which has a 1-0 lead after the first. Nick Paul gave the Bolts the lead with a few minutes left in the period.

Aside from the goal, the Maple Leafs had a pretty dominant period. Toronto almost tied the game in the final seconds of the period. The Maple Leafs had a few solid chances on a power play but couldn’t capitalize. We could see Toronto take advantage of the Point injury and have a better period in the second.

Through six games in the series, Point only had two goals and two assists. One of those goals was an overtime winner in Game 6 to force this game on Saturday night. Point hasn’t had the best series but is still a gamebreaker and critical part of the Lightning lineup.