Kucherov played with a ligament injury in the Stanley Cup Finals

MOSCOW, June 28 Tampa Bay's Russian striker Nikita Kucherov played with with a sprained medial collateral ligament of the knee in the NHL Playoff Finals series against Colorado, Sportsnet reports citing Lightning general manager Julien Brisebois. In the Stanley Cup final series, Tampa lost to Colorado 2-4. Brizbois did not specify in which episode the Russian was injured. In the third match of the series, Avalanche defender Devon Toews pushed Kucherov in the back, after which he fell unsuccessfully. The forward continued the meeting, but then left the ice. With a similar injury in the playoffs, the team's forward Pierre-Edouard Belmar played. Another Tampa forward, Braden Point, suffered a quadriceps femoris injury, he will recover in a few weeks. Also, team forwards Brandon Hagel, Anthony Cirelli, Cory Perry and Nick Paul, as well as defender Ryan McDonagh, received various injuries during the playoffs.