Colorado Avalanche forward Matt Stienburg was suspended two games for charging Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Erik Cernak, the NHL's Department of Player Safety announced Thursday.

The incident occurred late in the second period of the Bolts' 5-2 victory on Wednesday night. Stienburg was handed a five-minute major and game misconduct after leaving his feet to hit Cernak into the boards after the rearguard played the puck.

Cernak was unable to return to the contest and Lightning head coach Jon Cooper didn't have an update on his status after the game.

"That was a tough little sequence there for us," he said. "Those are tough hits but, hopefully, he's good to go in a couple of days."

Lightning captain Victor Hedman also denounced the hit.

"You never want to see a teammate go down, a brother go down," he said. "One of those plays we don't want in our game."

Cernak has chipped in with three assists, 15 blocks, and 16 hits in 10 games so far this season while averaging 19:17 minutes of ice time. He's spent the majority of his time on a pair with veteran Ryan McDonagh.

Stienburg, meanwhile, is in the midst of his first NHL season. The 24-year-old has racked up 22 penalty minutes and has yet to register a point in eight appearances.

The Lightning are on the road for three more games and will take on the Minnesota Wild on Friday at 8 p.m. ET.

Tampa Bay currently sits in second place in the Atlantic with a 7-3-0 record but ranks first in the division in terms of points percentage (.700).