Jake McCabe

Yesterday at 09:26 PM

The Toronto Maple Leafs will be down a defenceman for the remainder of Saturday’s tilt with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Maple Leafs defenceman Jake McCabe exited in the second period when he was hit in the side of the head by a point shot from Lightning defenceman Nick Perbix.

McCabe headed to the team’s locker room under his own power, but did not return for the third period. The team then ruled him out for the remainder of the game with an upper-body injury.

The 31-year-old defenceman played 11:27 before he was forced to exit.

In 23 games for the Maple Leafs this season, the veteran defenceman has five assists.

The Leafs have dealt with injuries to many of their forwards this season, but their defencemen have been relatively healthy.