BOSTON – Tampa Bay star centre Steven Stamkos suffered a broken right tibia and was taken off the ice on a stretcher in the Lightning’s 3-0 loss to Boston.
The Lightning confirmed the injury on their Twitter account and said Stamkos was out indefinitely.
It’s bad news for the Lightning and for Canada’s Olympic team. Stamkos was considered a lock to represent Canada at the 2014 Sochi Games.
The Lightning’s leading scorer and one of the top players in the league, Stamkos was backchecking on a play late in the second period Monday when he got tied up with Boston defenceman Dougie Hamilton. The pair went into the net hard.
Stamkos immediately grabbed his right leg and was rolling on the ice in pain.
After a brief delay, a stretcher was brought out and he was taken off to loud applause. As he was carted off, he put both hands to his face in apparent pain.
Stamkos collided with Hamilton and fell to the ice just before crashing into the right post. His left skate appeared to hit the post first before his right leg crashed into it around the shin area. He tried to get up twice before going down to the ice in pain, grabbing his leg just above the ankle.
On TV replays he appeared to tell a teammate, “It’s broken,” before the trainer got out to him.
Stamkos entered the day tied for the league’s lead in scoring with Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby.
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