The Carolina Hurricanes will be without their best goal scorer for a significant amount of time.
Seth Jarvis suffered what appeared to be a painful injury during the Hurricanes’ 4-3 shootout loss to the Florida Panthers on Friday night.
Jarvis was tripped full speed into one of Florida’s goal posts 20 seconds into overtime.
As Jarvis moved the puck onto his forehand during a rush down the ice, he put a shot on Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky. But as he did, he lost his balance as Panthers forward Evan Rodrigues tried to fruitlessly sweep the puck away with his stick, sending the Canes winger careening hard into the goal frame.
Jarvis’ midsection appeared to absorb all of the force, leaving him writhing in pain on the ice and clutching the right side of his waist and ribs. After being helped off the ice, Jarvis went down the tunnel and did not return to the game.
Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind’Amour said postgame that Jarvis’s injury “is not good. He’s going to be out for a while.”
Jarvis had consecutive secondary assists on Sebastian Aho goals in the third period to help put the Hurricanes up 3-0. But the Panthers rallied late with three unanswered tallies in the final 9:44 of the game to force overtime. They’d then win the game in the shootout after getting goals from Sam Reinhart and Rodrigues.
Coming into Saturday’s slate of games, the Hurricanes currently sit first in both the Eastern Conference and Metropolitan Division with 47 standings points, five ahead of the Washington Capitals, who sit second in both.
Jarvis leads the team in goals with 19 and sits second in points with 29 (19g, 10a), trailing only Aho, who has 31 (13g, 18a). The 23-year-old is coming off consecutive 30-plus goal seasons, where he notched 67 points both seasons. He has 240 points (115g, 125a) in 337 career NHL games.
