Radko Gudas injury update: Florida Panthers defenceman's status unknown for Game 3

The Florida Panthers were dealt a key blow to their defense as Radko Gudas left Game 2 with an injury.

Early in the first period, Gudas and Vegas Golden Knights forward Ivan Barbashev were skating after the puck when Barbashev left a huge hit on Gudas.

It appeared that Barbashev hit Gudas in the head and the defenceman skated to the bench and did not return to the game.

After leaving the game just seven minutes in, the Florida Panthers announced during the second period that Gudas would not return.

Following the game, Panthers head coach Paul Maurice had no update on Gudas, and his status for Game 3 on Thursday is unknown. However, Maurice did point out how important Gudas is to their lineup.

“He is really important,” Maurice said. “He is a force, but he is also a much better hockey player. He makes the highlight films because of his physical play but the quality of his play is very, very high. You miss a guy when he goes out.”

It also should be known that Radko Gudas was already dealing with an injury before Game 2. The Florida Panthers dressed seven defencemen as it was uncertain if he would be able to play his usual minutes.

In Game 2, Gudas played just 1:30 compared to his regular-season average of 17:22.

Should Gudas be unable to play in Game 3, which is uncertain at this time as the Panthers are keeping things close to the chest, Casey Fitzgerald will likely step into the lineup.

Radko Gudas' injury major blow to Florida Panthers as they look to overcome 2-0 deficit

The injury to Radko Gudas also comes at a difficult time for the Florida Panthers who suffered a 7-2 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights and are now down 2-0 in the Stanley Cup Finals.

Even though the Panthers are down in the series, and could be without Radko Gudas, they still remain confident they can win this series.

"It's never over," Panthers forward Anton Lundell said after the loss. "We saw that against Boston. "We still believe. We're down [2-0 in the series], but it's not over. We want to rest, recover and be ready to go on home ice. We'll get a lot of energy from our home fans."

Radko Gudas has three points in 18 playoff games along with 30 PIMs and has added physicality to the Panthers lineup.