McCabe took a high shot to the side of the head after blocking a Nick Perbix point shot.
The Toronto Maple Leafs' injury woes continued on Saturday night, as defenseman Jake McCabe exited the game against the Tampa Bay Lightning after suffering an upper-body injury.
The incident occurred in the second period when McCabe, playing in his 600th career regular-season game, blocked a point shot from Lightning defenseman Nick Perbix. The puck struck McCabe on the side of the head as he was boxing out forward Jake Guentzel in front of the Maple Leafs' net.
McCabe appeared shaken but managed to skate to the bench and head straight to the dressing room under his own power.
McCabe did not return to the bench as the third period got underway in Tampa Bay and the Leafs later announced the 31-year-old would not return to the game with what was deemed an upper-body injury.
The setback comes at a difficult time for Toronto, as the team has already been dealing with a slew of injuries on offense, just getting forwards Auston Matthews and Matthew Knies back healthy on Saturday night.
Since joining the club in the 2022-23 season, McCabe has been a reliable blueliner, skating in the top four with Chris Tanev as a true shutdown pairing this season. His absence now adds defensive strain for the Leafs, who rely heavily on his physical presence.
Playing in his third season in Toronto, the defenseman recently signed a five-year, $22.55 million contract extension with the Leafs at the end of October.
McCabe has five assists in 22 games with the club this season.
UPDATE:
Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube provided a positive update on McCabe’s status following the game. “He’ll be fine,” Berube said. When asked if McCabe might miss any time, Berube added, “I don’t. I mean, I guess I could be wrong.”
Teammate and Captain Auston Matthews expressed relief about McCabe’s condition, emphasizing the importance of his services to the Leafs’ lineup and his lay-it-all-out approach.
“He’s a heart and soul guy on our team,” said Matthews. “Fortunately, we saw him in the locker room and he’s doing alright so I think good news coming out from that aspect.”
“He’s a guy that puts it all on the line each and every night and a guy you love to have on your team. It’s never fun seeing a puck go up high like that and not really sure where it hit you or not sure of the severity of what happened. But everything seems to be okay and that’s the good part.”
Taking McCabe out of the game seemed like a precautionary move in the case of anything serious that could have arisen. Luckily, McCabe seemingly avoided any major setback and the Maple Leafs can breathe a sigh of relief.
As of now, the club anticipates having the defenseman back in the lineup on Monday as they host the Chicago Blackhawks, his former team, and continue to navigate injuries to numerous other players on the roster.
