At 38 and with more than 1,000 games of NHL experience (981 regular season, 70 playoffs) to his name, Roberto Luongo’s at that stage of his career where injuries start to stack up.
With that in mind, you wonder if all that wear-and-tear showed up on a night like this, as Luongo suffered some form of a lower-body injury while making a save against the Islanders. He needed help off the ice following a stop on Ryan Pulock, as you can see in the video above this post’s headline.
Plenty of people are concerned that this could be a serious issue for the likely future Hall of Famer.
Roberto Luongo just got a non-contact injury while trying to save a shot and can't put any weight on his right leg. Looks like a long-term injury, sadly.
— Adam Herman (@AdamZHerman) December 5, 2017
Luongo being helped off the ice by two of Florida's trainers. The crowd gives him a few "Luu" chants as he heads off. This does not look good.
— Jameson Olive (@JamesonCoop) December 5, 2017
It’s already been a tough season for the Panthers, but Luongo’s quietly been fantastic, carrying a superlative .928 save percentage into tonight. While James Reimer is a capable backup/platoon-mate, this is a tough blow for Florida.
Here’s hoping that this injury isn’t as scary as it looked. The Islanders ended up edging Luongo’s Panthers 5-4 via a shootout on Monday. No word yet on Luongo’s condition.
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James O’Brien is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @cyclelikesedins.