The injury that forced Roberto Luongo from last night’s 1-0 win over Carolina doesn’t sound serious, but it is significant enough that Florida recalled Dan Ellis from AHL San Antonio on Thursday.
Luongo exited Wednesday’s contest 10:22 into the second period after stopping all 11 of the shots he faced. It didn’t look as though he injured himself on a specific play and, today, details were few about what the ailment might be. (Earlier speculation suggested a shoulder injury; club is saying upper-body.)
Al Montoya came in to relieve Luongo against the ‘Canes and was stellar, stopping all 22 shots.
As for Ellis, the 34-year-old veteran will head back to the bigs after a fairly solid stint with the Rampage. He’s 8-4-0 on the year with a .918 save percentage and 2.13 GAA, but has yet to play in the NHL this season after losing the backup gig to Montoya during training camp. Ellis will back up Montoya for Friday’s game against Ottawa, head coach Gerard Gallant confirmed.
Luongo has been one of the NHL’s busiest workhorses this year, having played in 17 of Florida’s 20 games. To make room for Ellis on the active roster, Florida put Scottie Upshall (ankle) on IR.