Sasha Barkov injured, leaves Florida Panthers game in second

Florida Panthers star center Sasha Barkov was knocked out of Tuesday night’s game against the New York Islanders on a knee-to-knee hit from Scott Mayfield.

Barkov’s left leg appeared to crumple when the two players collided just crossing into the Islanders zone 1:47 into the period.

Florida, it should be noted, was up 4-0 at the time.

Mayfield was given a five-minute major for kneeing and a game misconduct. He may face further discipline from the NHL this week.

Barkov did not return for the rest of the second period.

One of the rising stars in the NHL, Barkov extended his scoring streak to 10 consecutive games on Florida’s first goal of the game.

Barkov fed Anthony Duclair who zipped a pass to Jonathan Huberdeau making it 1-0 at 6:58 of the first.

Last week, Barkov became the franchise leader in goals and he signed a franchise-record eight-year, $80 million contract last month.

The severity of Barkov’s injury is not known.

With the Panthers being up by a large score on an obviously exhausted Islanders team, his absence may have just been precautionary.