Carolina is set to lose its top finisher for a considerable spell.
Seth Jarvis seemed to sustain a painful ailment as the Hurricanes dropped a 4-3 shootout decision Friday evening, falling to Florida.
A trip flung Jarvis at full tilt into a Panthers post a mere 20 ticks after overtime opened.
Pulling the disc to his forehand as he rushed up the sheet, Jarvis got off a shot toward Panthers stopper Sergei Bobrovsky. In that instant, his footing gave way when Florida's Evan Rodrigues vainly tried to poke the loose puck clear, and the Carolina winger went careening violently into the frame.
The bulk of the impact appeared to land on Jarvis' midsection, which left him squirming along the surface, gripping his right side close to the ribs and waist. Helped to the bench, he then headed down the tunnel without returning.
Carolina bench boss Rod Brind'Amour remarked afterward that the situation looked bad and that his winger would be unavailable for an extended period.
Earlier, Jarvis had picked up consecutive secondary helpers as Sebastian Aho scored twice during the third period, building Carolina a 3-0 cushion. Florida, however, roared back, scoring three times without reply over the closing 9:44 of regulation to send things to OT. The Panthers then claimed the tiebreaker on conversions from Rodrigues and Sam Reinhart.
Coming into the Saturday schedule, Carolina occupies first in the Metropolitan as well as across the East with 47 points, holding a five-point cushion on Washington, the runner-up in both groupings.
With 19 goals, Jarvis tops the club, and his 29 points (10 assists alongside those tallies) rank second behind Aho, whose 31 break down as 13 goals and 18 helpers. At 23, the winger just wrapped consecutive years of more than 30 goals, hitting 67 points in each. Through 337 NHL contests, his line reads 115 goals and 125 assists for 240 points.