Period ends early after Nick Jensen is knocked out cold.

I can only hope that Washington Capitals forward Nick Jensen is going to be okay.

There has been a very scary scene in the first period of tonight's game between the Capitals and Tampa Bay Lightning at Capital One Arena, in Washington D.C. after Jensen was knocked completely unconscious following a hit from the Lightning's Michael Eyssimont.

Eyssimont drove Jensen into the boards at an awkward angle and Jensen falling awkwardly didn't help matters at all, resulting in the back of Jensen's head smacking against the boards in sickening fashion. The back of Jensen's head and the back of his neck absorbed the brunt of the initial impact, with his back crashing into the boards shortly thereafter.

It looked as though Jensen was out cold immediately, with medical personal quickly coming out onto the ice to lend assistance. Jensen was eventually taken off of the ice on a stretcher and the decision was made to call the period early, with the final 1:31 of game time to be added to the clock in the second period.