Cedric Paquette and Tyler Johnson were injured in the first period of the Tampa Bay Lightning's preseason finale against the Florida Panthers at Amalie Arena on Saturday.
Paquette, a forward, left the arena with his right arm in a sling after the 1-0 shootout loss. He was injured on a hit by Florida defenseman Riley Stillman in the first period.
Johnson did not return to the bench during the game, and Lightning coach Jon Cooper said the forward's status for the season opener against the Panthers at Amalie Arena on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; SUN, FS-F, NHL.TV) was not known.
"[Cedric is] definitely going to get checked out in a little bit here," Cooper said. "[Johnson] was a little bit more for precaution. We'll have more of an update tomorrow, but Cedric is going to be a little bit of a battle if he's going to be available right away."
The Lightning are already thin at center with Brayden Point not expected to play until late October as he recovers from offseason hip surgery.
Forwards Alexander Volkov, Carter Verhaeghe, Gemel Smith, Danick Martel and Luke Witkowski are in a battle for two roster spots, but with Point's recovery and Pauqette's injury, there could be more opportunities available.
"Let's wait the next couple of days and see what happens," Cooper said. "We lost a couple of guys tonight, so we've got to see where our numbers are and who can play."
Corey Long