Scary moment after Mitch Marner takes a puck to the face

The Toronto Maple Leafs are struggling to start tonight against the Florida Panthers in a scoreless game. Which, frankly, the Leafs are lucky to be tied. Having been outshot 5-6 in the 1st period alone, the Leafs should consider themselves fortunate to be tied in this game.

Unfortunately for the team though, they've lost one of their best players and it doesn't look like he'll be returning this evening.

Marner took a wrist shot from Mathew Tkachuk up high and left the game immediately. Marner appeared to take the shot directly in his jaw and dropped immediately. The play was blown down and Marner rushed himself off the ice and toward the team's medical room right away.

Here's the entire sequence:

Ouch!

No word yet on Marner's status, but when medical staff informed head coach Sheldon Keefe of Marner's status, well... Keefe's reaction tells you everything you need to know.

Check it out:

That... doesn't seem like good news that Coach Keefe is receiving there. Double ouch.

Again, no word yet on Marner's status but the team needs a serious spark in the 2nd period if they're going to turn this game around. The Panthers thoroughly dominated the Leafs in the 1st period and did absolutely everything but score.

As it is, the Leafs are down one of their best forwards and will carry on with just 11 forwards until we get some clarity on Marner's status. TSN insider Darren Dreger reports that the, "sense is he's okay and likely just going through imaging and x-rays and everything else that's required."

Again, we'll learn more about Marner's status as the game progresses. Needless to say though, that if the Leafs lose Marner for any significant length of time, he'll be a tough player to replace. The 26 year old forward has five goals and 20 points in 19 games to start the 2023-24 campaign. Again, stay tuned for further medical updates from the Leafs on this very article.