Periods ends after paramedics are called for Sean Kuraly.

There has been a scary situation in the National Hockey League on Saturday night.

Late in the first period between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Columbus Blue Jackets, Blue Jackets forward Sean Kuraly suffered an injury that would lead to the early end of the first period. The injury was suffered with 18.4 seconds left on the game clock, but after paramedics were called to the scene the NHL decided to call an early end to the period.

Kuraly was roughed up twice on the play, first taking a hit behind the net and then being struck by a shot in the stomach. Although Kuraly looked like he was in bad shape following the hit, it was the shot to the stomach area that appeared to really hurt the veteran NHL forward.

There was a panicked reaction from the staff on the Blue Jackets bench that made the situation seem dire.

A report from Dave Maetzoid has confirmed that both EMTs and paramedics were called to the scene, however he added that Kuraly will be fine and it sounds like that reaction was precautionary. There was a “great deal of panic” around the injury to Kuraly according to Maetzoid, and you have to hope that he will be able to quickly recover over the holiday season.