Florida Panthers’ Radko Gudas leaves Stanley Cup Game 2 injured

Florida Panthers’ defenseman Radko Gudas will not return to Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Vegas Golden Knights because of an injury he sustained in the first period, the team confirmed on Monday.

Gudas groggily went to the locker room after being leveled by Vegas forward Ivan Barbashev seven minutes into the contest.

Without Gudas, things unraveled quickly for Florida. Only seconds later, Jonathan Marchessault got the Golden Knights off the mark with his second tally this series. The veteran winger now has 10 goals in his last 11 games.

Alec Martinez buried a wrister near the end of the first frame before Nic Roy and Brett Howden scored in the second period to open up a 4-0 lead for the Western Conference champions.

Florida has had no answer for the Golden Knights’ multifaceted offense through two games, the first of which ended in a 5-2 Vegas victory, and Panthers’ goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky has seemingly come back down to Earth.

The Panthers still have six defensemen available; they dressed seventh blueliner Casey Fitzgerald instead of fourth-liner Zac Dalpe.

Vegas leads 4-0 after two periods; goaltender Adin Hill has stopped all 23 shots he has faced.