"McDonagh's more than day to day. I would say … couple of weeks," Cooper said. "Not to send off alarm bells like it's season-ending, it's nothing like that. Hopefully, in a couple of weeks, we'll have some progress with him and we'll address it then."
The defenseman was injured blocking a shot in the second period of a 4-2 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday. He collapsed after the shot by Penguins center Evgeni Malkin hit his right leg, then awkwardly got to the bench. McDonagh tested the leg during the next media timeout but soon left for the locker room and did not return.
He will not play when the Lightning (34-15-5), winners of five in a row, host the New York Islanders on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; ESPN+, SUN, MSG+2, NHL.TV). Tampa Bay recalled defenseman
Cameron Gaunce
from Syracuse of the American Hockey League.
McDonagh has 12 points (one goal, 11 assists) and leads the Lightning with 95 blocked shots in 48 games, averaging 20:40 of ice time per game. He missed six games from Jan. 5-14 with an upper-body injury.
The Lightning are also without defenseman Jan Rutta, who is week to week with a lower-body injury sustained in a 4-2 win against the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday. The injuries to McDonagh and Rutta are expected to create playing opportunities for veteran defensemen Braydon Coburn and Luke Schenn.
"Obviously [Rutta] and [McDonagh] have been playing great lately and they're a huge part of the D corps and they've been relied on to play some heavy minutes," Schenn said. "[Coburn] got an opportunity last game and tonight I've got to step in. We're just trying to do the best we can out there. The team has obviously had some chemistry lately, so you just want to fit in as best you can."
NHL.com independent correspondent Corey Long contributed to this report