Vancouver Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo has been listed as "week-to-week" after a meeting with team doctors determined the All-Star netminder suffered an adductor strain.
"This is the first time I've had an injury like this," Luongo said. "I'll be working hard with the training staff and the medical guys, but I really don't know how long it's going to take."
Luongo left Saturday's 3-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins with 15:06 left in the first period. He made a pad save but immediately fell down to the ice and could not get up. Play was stopped and a couple of teammates had to help him off the ice after a lengthy trainer's visit.
"Once you're in that kind of pain, you always think of the worst right away. For the 24 hours there, I was pretty worried," Luongo said. "Once I got up on Sunday and was able to come over to the rink and was able to walk and stuff like that, I realized maybe it wasn't as bad as I first thought."
Luongo underwent an MRI exam on Monday and was happy with what he heard from doctors.
''It was definitely a relief but after Sunday and speaking to the doctors a little bit, I kind of knew it wasn't as bad but you never know until you get the MRI,'' he said. ''I was happy to hear the results.''
Curtis Sanford came in to replace Luongo in net after the starter made one save without allowing a goal.
"You hate to see your teammate down on the ice like that, he's the biggest part of our team," Sanford said. "But we're going to have to move past that and we're going to have to play some games without him in there."
The club called up goaltender Cory Schneider on Sunday to fill in the roster spot.
Luongo has posted an 11-5-2 mark this season with a .928 save percentage. He had a career-long shutout streak earlier in the season, going 2:42:36 without allowing a goal. He has an NHL-best five shutouts on the season and has a 2.18 goals-against average.