The Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Arizona Coyotes 4-1 Thursday but it could end up being a costly victory.
Lightning forward Ryan Callahan was injured midway through the final period after he and Coyotes blueliner Oliver Ekman-Larsson took a scary tumble into the boards.
Ekman-Larsson was able to return to the game but Callahan did not. As you can see from the video below, Callahan was writhing in pain on the ice while holding the area near his right shoulder.
“I’m sick to my stomach to watch a guy work as hard as he did to come back, play so well and to have something like that,” Lightning captain Steven Stamkos said via Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times. “It didn’t look very good.”
Callahan only managed to play 18 games in 2016-17 due to a hip injury. The 32-year-old has a mere six points in 29 games this season but is one of the team’s leaders and a veteran voice in the dressing room.
“You feel so bad for him,” defenceman Victor Hedman added. “He’s battled hard through the whole year, and is such an important player for us.”
A dejected Jon Cooper did not sound optimistic when addressing Callahan’s status after the game.
“This one’s probably — this one might be longer than day-to-day,” the Lightning head coach told FOX Sports Florida. “There’s nothing you can do until he gets checked out [Friday] so really unfortunate incident. Hopefully things are going to be OK.”
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