During the third period of Monday's overtime loss to the New York Islanders, the Toronto Maple Leafs lost their best defenceman, Morgan Rielly to a suspected lower-body injury.

Rielly collided with Islanders forward Kyle Palmieri, both players fell to the ice and were slow to get up. The Maple Leafs blue liner appeared to be holding his left knee and went on to play one more shift before leaving the game and not returning.

The 28-year-old will have imaging done on his injury at some point on Tuesday and an update on his status will likely come Tuesday evening or following Wednesday's morning skate.

It's been a tough go for the Maple Leafs in terms of injuries to their defensive core. First it was Jake Muzzin, who has a spine injury and likely won't play again this season. Then more recently, T.J. Brodie who's out with an oblique injury and it doesn't sound like he will be returning anytime soon.

"It's tough," Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said. "We're already missing guys, and Morgan is so important to our team and to our back end in particular."

He added, "But, we lose Muzzin — we made a big deal of it. It wasn't a big deal. Brodie — made a big deal of it. It wasn't a big deal. Just gotta keep playing, because that's the way it goes."

Rielly, a native of Vancouver, has been off to a very good start to the 2022-23 season. In 20 games, he's put up 16 assists, seven penalty minutes and is a minus-one.

Source: Sportsnet

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