The left wrist of Edmonton Oilers forward Evander Kane was wounded by a skate blade on Wednesday, forcing him to miss three to four months of action.
The accident happened during Tuesday night’s 3-2 victory for Edmonton over Tampa Bay.
At 3 minutes and 27 seconds into the second period, Kane, 31, collided with Lightning defenseman Philippe Myers well inside the Edmonton offensive zone and was cut by Tampa Bay forward Pat Maroon’s skate blade while still on the ice.
Tuesday night, Kane was taken to the hospital and had surgery. On Wednesday, the team put him on long-term injured reserve.
Kane has five goals and eight assists through 13 games this season after agreeing to a four-year, $20.5 million deal with the Oilers in the offseason.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Kane expressed his gratitude to everyone for their warm thoughts and prayers over the past several hours. “Obviously, last night was a very tense time for me, and I’m still somewhat stunned.
“I want to thank the entire Edmonton Oilers and Tampa Bay Lightning training staff, as well as all the medical professionals who rushed to help treat and fix my injury. I sincerely appreciate all of you because I know that without you, things would have been much worse.