Colts DE expected to miss multiple weeks
After suffering an MCL injury in last Sunday’s win over the Los Angeles Chargers, Indianapolis Colts defensive end Samson Ebukam is likely to miss multiple weeks, Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com reports. He’s not expected to land on IR, according to Mike Chappell of FOX 59.
An IR stint would require Ebukam to miss four games. With the Colts’ bye falling in Week 11, going on IR would prevent Ebukam from returning until Week 13. Fortunately for first-place Indianapolis, it doesn’t seem that he’s facing a long-term absence.
A former Ram and 49er, Ebukam signed a three-year deal with the Colts before the 2023 season. He responded with 17 starts and 9.5 sacks that year, but a torn Achilles sidelined him for all of last season. Before his latest injury, the 30-year-old played in all seven of the Colts’ games during a 6-1 start and logged a 44.2% snap share with two sacks.
Along with Ebukam, the Colts saw defensive end Tyquan Lewis exit in Week 7 with a groin injury. He’s considered “day-to-day this week, and we’ll just see how the week goes,” head coach Shane Steichen said (via Joel A. Erickson and Nathan Brown of the Indianapolis Star).
Lewis, who has played a little over 41% of defensive snaps in 2025, is tied for the team lead with three sacks. With Lewis and Ebukam dealing with injuries, Kwity Paye, Laiatu Latu and JT Tuimoloau are the Colts’ only healthy defensive ends heading into Sunday’s game against the Titans.
Even when the Colts are at full strength, they don’t boast an especially formidable pass rush. That could be an area for general manager Chris Ballard to improve on before the Nov. 4 trade deadline, though the team also has questions in its injury-riddled secondary. The Colts have just under $5M in cap space, leaving Ballard with little breathing room.
Kucherov’s turnover sparked an odd-man rush, and his lack of urgency on the backcheck sealed the game-winning goal for Chicago. When your stars don’t shine, the season gets darker. Tampa Bay will need more from its elite if it wants to avoid a long year
As the public address announcer at Benchmark International Arena belted the final tones of ‘This is the final minute of the period’ on Thursday night, Tampa Bay Lightning fans appeared due for at least one point banked in the standings and a period of overtime hockey.
Chicago cut that anticipation short, forcing a Lightning turnover in the offensive zone and bursting down the ice to score a rebound goal with 53.2 seconds left in the game and steal a 3-2 regulation victory.
The Lightning are now 1-4-2 this season.
While Tampa Bay outshot the Blackhawks 32-24 and overcame two separate deficits to tie the game, Lightning coach Jon Cooper mentioned too many penalties and late turnovers as errors proving to be too costly.
“In the end, they got it across the goal line one more time than we did, and that's it. And it's unfortunate, the breakdown we had at the end,” Cooper said. “And you can't just sit here and go, ‘There's a moral victory that we played a fairly good game.’ But we have to finish these off, whether we finish it off in overtime or in a shootout. But we can't let that happen. It was just a mistake on our part."
Chicago forward Teuvo Teravainen stole the puck in their defensive end in the final minute and sauced a pass to Frank Nazar at the offensive blueline. The latter’s initial shot was stopped, but Ryan Donato’s rebound attempt found the back of the net for a 3-2 lead that stood as final.
The goal was Donato’s second of the night.
"We have a lot of veterans in the lineup. Because you've done it before doesn't mean you're going to do it again. You have to understand what it took and what it takes to do it again,” Cooper said. “And right now we're not making a ton of mistakes, but when we are, we're getting burned. When it's capitalizing in a game of mistakes, we're making too many."
Chicago utilized the game’s first power play to claim a 1-0 lead 10:41 into the game. Forward Tyler Bertuzzi had the puck below the Lightning goal-line and fed a pass to Nazar, whose one-timer from the slot snuck into the left half of the Lightning net to make it 1-0.
Tampa Bay opened the second period by dominating puck possession time and got rewarded with the tying goal.
A rush chance for the Lightning saw Nikita Kucherov narrowly miss at the right post, but the forward corralled the puck behind the net and flung it to defenseman Ryan McDonagh at the top of the offensive zone. McDonagh’s shot from the point was tipped by Jake Guentzel to beat Chicago goalie Spencer Knight, who was on the ice due to the original rush chance.
Donato took the lead back for the visitors midway through the second period. Donato’s 2-1 goal came on a high-blocker shot on a rush chance from the top of the left circle.
Nikita Kucherov earned his second point of the night and 999th of his NHL career in the final minute of the period, drawing Chicago defenders near the goal line before dishing a pass to McDonagh at the right circle. McDonagh wasted no time in firing his team-high third goal of the season through Knight to tie the game with 42.1 seconds left in the middle frame.
The Lightning erased a 5-on-3 power-play chance for Chicago followed by 3:17 of a 5-on-4 penalty kill to keep the game tied 2-2 with 12 minutes left.
The teams continued to trade chances in the third period, and Tampa Bay hit numerous posts in the third period before Donato’s winning tally late.
"It's so close. That's the NHL, and we've been on the right side of it a lot of times when you know you don't deserve it and tonight, maybe you think you deserve at least something out of the game, especially to get through that PK in the third,” McDonagh said. “But at the end of the day, the final score is all that matters with this group, and we didn't find a way. We want to keep growing here and keep believing and keep trusting each other out there and find a way to play some winning hockey."
Up next for Tampa Bay is a bout with the Anaheim Ducks (4-2-1) at 5 p.m. Saturday.
Benjamin’s Three Stars:
- Ryan Donato, CHI (2 goals)
- Ryan McDonagh, TBL (Goal, assist)
- Frank Nazar, CHI (Goal, assist)
