The Lightning captain was seen limping down the tunnel and heading to the locker room in the third period of Tampa Bay's 6-4 win in Columbus Thursday by reporters inside Nationwide Arena.
Identifying how Stamkos was injured is hard to pinpoint. He played his last shift a minute into the third period. On that shift, he backhanded a puck deep into the offensive zone from just inside the blue line and stopped, bending over at the waist in discomfort with seemingly little if any contact before skating gingerly off the ice.
He did not re-enter the contest.
After the game, Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said he would have an update on Stamkos' status, if there was an update, following the team's practice in Nashville Friday.
A day later, he didn't have much more to offer.
"I don't have an update today," Cooper said. "He's getting evaluated right now. I will hopefully have something tomorrow. I'd sit here and say he's questionable for tomorrow's game though."
The Lightning begin a two-game set against the red-hot Nashville Predators, winners of nine of their last 10 games, on Saturday.
Earlier in Thursday's contest, Stamkos scored a power-play goal to give the Lightning a 2-0 lead at 4:41 of the first period, his 10th power-play goal of the season and 17th goal overall, both tops on the Bolts. Stamkos became one of only three players in the NHL currently to reach 10 power-play goals this season, joining Dallas' Joe Pavelski and Edmonton's Leon Draisaitl.
Stamkos finished Thursday's game with a power-play goal, a blocked shot and 9-of-12 face-off wins in 11:57 time on ice.
Stamkos missed two games earlier this season February 11 and 13 at Florida with a lower-body injury. He's skated in 38 games overall this season for the Lightning, posting 17 goals and 34 points, ranking tied for second on the Bolts for scoring.
