Sergachev out indefinitely after undergoing leg surgery

Mikhail Sergachev will be out for the foreseeable future after he was injured in his return to the lineup Wednesday night.

The Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman underwent surgery in New York to stabilize tibia and fibula fractures in his left leg, the club announced Thursday. He has no timetable for recovery at the moment and will soon return to Tampa to begin his rehab.

Sergachev - who was playing for the first time since Dec. 19 - came down awkwardly on his left leg after colliding with New York Rangers forward Alexis Lafreniere in the second period of the Blueshirts' 3-1 win.

Sergachev had to be taken off the ice on a stretcher, and the team later ruled him out for the rest of the game.

The Lightning blue-liner missed 17 games with his previous injury. He played 10:22 before being forced to depart Wednesday.

Tampa head coach Jon Cooper didn't have an update on the rearguard postgame. When asked if Sergachev will be out for the rest of the season, he replied, "I don't know. Let's not think that way," according to team reporter Chris Krenn.

However, the bench boss had a better idea of the timeline when asked again Thursday following Sergachev's surgery.

"He is going to miss significant time - and significant meaning the regular season," Cooper said, according to team reporter Gabby Shirley. "I'm not a doctor. Maybe even saying that much is going out of my comfort zone but, like I said, it's going to be significant time so we are going to have to find a way to get by without him."

"Oh man, why me? Why now?" Sergachev wrote in an Instagram post. "After all the games missed, coming back and getting injured again feels unfair, feels terrible. Trying to stay calm and positive, but it's impossible."

Lightning captain Steven Stamkos said he can relate to what Sergachev is going through.

"You feel sick to your stomach," Stamkos said, according to the Tampa Bay Times' Eduardo A. Encina. "Obviously, Sergy put a lot of time and effort to come back from his original injury, and to see something pretty traumatic like that happen, from someone who has been through that, it's tough to watch."

Sergachev has been a key member of Tampa Bay's back end for years. He's a fixture in the top four when healthy, and the Bolts signed him to an eight-year, $68-million contract extension in the summer of 2022.