The Vancouver Canucks will play the remainder of their game against the Los Angeles Kings with 11 forwards as the club announced Brock Boeser will not return.

Boeser was injured after picking up the loose puck in the neutral zone and completing a pass to Filip Hronek at the team’s blue line. After the puck is off Boeser’s stick, Tanner Jeannot skates toward Boeser, lifts his shoulder and makes direct contact with Boeser’s head. Boeser fell to the ice and was left on his hands and knees, clearly shaken up.

Jeannot was assessed a five-minute match penalty. The Canucks were able to capitalize on that power play, as Conor Garland sneaks out of the corner, behind the penalty killers and taps it past Darcy Kuemper.

This five-minute major penalty brings Jeannot’s penalty minute total to 26, tied for fourth most in the NHL. It is also Jeannot’s fourth major penalty on the season, which is the most in the league and two more than the next highest. Jeannot will wait to see if he has a hearing from George Parros and the Department of Players Safety.

This is a massive blow for this Canucks team, as coming into tonight’s game, Boeser was the Canucks leading goal scorer (6) and point scorer (11), only trailing captain Quinn Hughes (12). Nils Höglander and Daniel Sprong are currently alternating in Boeser’s spot on a line with Jake DeBrusk and J.T. Miller.

Boeser is coming off a career year, recording 40 goals and 33 assists for 73 points with a plus-23 rating. This is also a contract year for Boeser as he’s in the final year of his three-year, $19.95 million contract that pays him $6.65 million annually. The Minnesota native has 185 goals and 210 assists for 395 points in 490 career games, all spent in Vancouver.

We’ll have to wait until after the game for a further update on Boeser. More to come.