Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Pavel Kubina, who was hurt in Game 1 of the East semifinal against the Capitals and has not skated since, did not make the trip to Boston for Games 1 and 2 of the conference final with the Bruins.

 That should not be a huge surprise as coach Guy Boucher made it clear Kubina would not be in the lineup early in the series. Still, it has to make one wonder about the severity of the injury. The Lightning is calling it an upper-body injury but it would be foolish to believe Kubina was not experiencing concussion-like symptoms after taking an elbow to the back of the head from Washington's Jason Chimera and then having his head bounce off the glass.

Kubina has declined all interview requests since he spoke to the media two days after the initial  injury.

On a positive note, left wing Simon Gagne will play in Game 1 against the Bruins, and forward Dana Tyrell (foot) skated with the team at the TD Garden on Friday, though wearing a red no-contact jersey.

On another front, Games 3, 4 and 6 at the St. Pete Times Forum are sold out except for some tickets that were held back for potential new season-ticket holders. Those could be released at some point. But the three games apparently were sold out in minutes.