Marty St. Louis returns to Tampa Bay Lightning practice on Tuesday

Posted Dec 20, 2011 by Erik Erlendsson

Updated Dec 20, 2011 at 07:38 PM

SAN JOSE, Calif. – Less than two weeks after being struck near his left eye with a puck, Lightning right wing Marty St. Louis has returned to practice with the team.

St. Louis traveled with the team to San Jose Tuesday morning and joined his teammates on the ice for practice at HP Pavillion in preparation for Wednesday’s game against the San Jose Sharks. St. Louis was wearing a full metal cage to cover his face as he went through drills. No determination has yet been made whether he will be able to play on Wednesday against San Jose or Friday in Denver against the Colorado Avalanche.

During a morning skate on Dec. 8 at Madison Square Garden in New York prior to a game against the Rangers, teammate Dominic Moore accidently fired a backhand wide of the net that struck St. Louis near his left eye. St. Louis left the ice with blood coming out of the area around his eye just as he was set to appear in his 500th consecutive regular season game. He spent the night at NYU Medical center after suffering a broken nose and a hairline fracture of his orbital bone. His eye was swollen shut and a blood clot developed as he was kept off physical activity until the clot dissipated.

He was cleared for activity on Friday and began working out, doing an hour session in the gym while attempting to do some stickhandling with a tennis ball, but reported the vision in his left eye was still slightly blurred. St. Louis remained back in Tampa to continue workouts while the team travelled to Columbus, Ohio, to take on the Blue Jackets and at the time was unsure whether he would travel with the team.