TAMPA, Fla. -- Seated at one locker stall late Thursday night at Amalie Arena, Kris Letang was delicately, deliberately peeling off the tape from his shinpads. He'd been limited to a single hand, the other having been bandaged up for a finger that'd been bloodied by an opponent's shot. He'd been limited in all other movement, even routine facial expressions, by an upper lip that'd required two dozen stitches upon being bludgeoned by yet another opponent's shot several seconds later.
At the risk of getting all grisly, the scene came across like the classic triangulation of crossfire.