Thunderbolts

Coach Brent Bilodeau doesn’t reveal much publicly, but his language on Tuesday afternoon made it seem like he was close to making a trade or two. “With our lack of goal scoring, something has to give,” he said. “But you have to give up something to get something. Anyone we lose lose will hurt us. We lost Matt Byrnes. Was he the savior? No, but it hurt losing him. Everyone brings something to the table that we would miss, but we might be adding something that is more dynamic too.”

Injury updates: We’ve heard this before, but No. 1 goalie Tim Boron might return this weekend. He’s been out six games with an undisclosed injury. In Boron’s absence, Krister Toews is 1-5 with a 3.02 goals-against and a .916 saves percentage. Defenseman Pascal Bedard skated for the first time on Tuesday since his injury, and he could play Friday. Brad Thompson may play Friday too.

Top line needs some help: Here’s a telling stat: Besides Jason Duda and Troy Ofukany, no other Thunder forward has managed a goal in the past four games, all Thunder losses. The other member of that top line, Joel Hanson, has three assists.

Personal note: Not to make this all about me, but I managed to work the word “squadush” into my Thunder notebook for tomorrow’s paper. It’s been a goal of mine to get that word in print ever since I heard Tony Reali use it on “Around the Horn.” We’ll see if one of the paper’s heavy-handed copy editors changes my prose.