Maple Leafs lose Max Pacioretty to injury.

The Toronto Maple Leafs will have to play on without the services of veteran forward Max Pacioretty for the time being.

On Monday morning, the team officially announced that Pacioretty would not participate in the team's morning skate due to injury. No details have been provided on the nature of Pacioretty's injury from the team other than to call it an upper body injury.

Additionally, head coach Craig Berube spoke to members of the media on Monday after practice and when the topic of Pacioretty's injury was raised Berube confirmed that Pacioretty would miss Monday night's game against the Tampa Bay Lightning and indicated that Pacioretty is being considered day to day.

Although there has been no official confirmation regarding the nature of Pacioretty's injury, I suspect that a puck to the head may be the culprit here. During Saturday's game between the Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens, Pacioretty was struck by a puck to the head. The puck appeared to catch Pacioretty up near the ear, where the helmet offers relatively little protection, and he was in clear discomfort both on the ice and on the bench following the incident.

Here is a short clip of Pacioretty being struck by the puck:

Pacioretty would remain in the game and even finished the game against the Canadiens on Saturday, but it may be that unfortunate puck to the head keeping him out of the lineup tonight against the Lightning.