TAMPA, Fla. _ The Lightning beat Pittsburgh but are down another defenseman. Ryan McDonagh blocked a shot by Penguins center Evgeni Malkin in the second period of Thursday's 4-2 win and ended up leaving the game.
McDonagh crouched low, going for the block, and Malkin elevated his shot. The puck hit McDonagh in the right leg. He immediately went to the bench, taking awkward long strides while hunched over.
McDonagh spoke with head athletic trainer Tom Mulligan and then sat out his next few shifts, before testing out his skating at the next TV timeout. He was on the ice for less than 30 seconds, then headed down the tunnel toward the dressing room.
The Lightning were already playing without Jan Rutta, who took a low hit and slid into the boards legs first against Vegas on Tuesday. He's been ruled week-to-week, so the Lightning had already moved to an alternate plan among their defenseman pairs.
Mikhail Sergachev had moved into Rutta's spot in the top pair with Victor Hedman and scored the first goal of the game, midway into the first period. Braydon Coburn, who hadn't played since Jan. 14, returned to the lineup with Kevin Shattenkirk in the third pair.
McDonagh previously missed six games early in January after taking an inadvertent elbow to the head against Ottawa on Jan. 4. The Lightning continued their win streak without him, but McDonagh has been a key piece of this defense since the team traded for him two years ago.
Steven Stamkos scored at the 12:55 mark of the first period to give the Lightning a 2-0 lead.
Malkin's goal at the 9:25 mark of the second period cut the lead to 2-1, but Anthony Cirelli answered with a goal 32 seconds later to make it a two-score game again.
John Marino scored early in the third period on an assist from Malkin to pull the Penguins within one at 3-2.
Nikita Kucherov iced the game for the Lightning with a short-handed goal at the 19:27 mark.
