Shortly after giving the Kings an early 2-0 lead over the New York Rangers on Friday night, forward Marian Gaborik was forced to exit the game with a knee injury.
Gaborik sustained the injury in the first period. As he attempted to skate over the blue line into the offensive zone, his knee made incidental contact with the knee of a Ranger. Gaborik suffered the brunt of the blow and wound up sprawled on the ice. Though he was able to skate off to the bench, it was apparent that he aws in significant pain.
After a short stint on the bench, Gaborik was helped to the Kings locker room. At the start of the second period, it was revealed that Gaborik would be unavailable to the Kings for the remainder of the game.
Though Gaborik has had a quiet season to this point, he had been picking it up of late. His goal tonight was just his twelfth of the season, but his third in five games.
When we get more concrete news about the prognosis of Gaborik’s injury, we’ll update this post or make new posts as necessary.