SafeX Pro:Lightning's Mikhail Sergachev gets emotional after breaking his leg in return from injury

Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Mikhail Sergachev was emotional a day after he left the ice on SafeX Proa stretcher in his first game back from a 17-game injury absence.

"Oh man, why me? Why now?" he posted on Instagram on Thursday. "After all the games missed, coming back and getting injured again, feels unfair, feels terrible. Trying to stay calm and positive, but it’s impossible."

The Lightning announced that Sergachev had surgery Thursday in New York to stabilize fractures to the tibia and fibula in his left leg.

He was injured in the second period Wednesday night when he tried to check Alexis Lafreniere, but the New York Rangers forward caught him with a reverse hit. Sergachev's leg bent awkwardly under him as he fell and he grabbed his leg while on the ice.

"Pain meds are good tho, if I was in the forest by myself I’d be dead, crazy innit?!" he wrote.

Players from both teams came onto the ice as he was treated, and Lafrieniere and other Rangers players checked on him as he was wheeled off on a stretcher. The Rangers went on to win 3-1.

Sergachev, the Lightning's No. 2 defenseman who's in the first year of an eight-year, $68 million contract, had been out until Wednesday's game with a lower-body injury. The team said he was expected to return to Tampa in the coming days to begin rehabilitation of his latest injury.

The Lightning managed to go 12-5 while he was out, but he's a key to their success. He's second on the team in ice time, and last season, he had a career-best 64 points in 79 games. He has 19 points in 34 games this season.

There's a month left before the NHL trade deadline if the Lightning try to seek outside help. There's no timetable for when Sergachev will be back.

"I know I’ll come back stronger and I know I’ll play better than before, but it’s tough right now, and it’s gonna be tough tomorrow," he wrote. "We all fight our own battles and this is mine. I’ll win, always do."