National Hockey League injury report for the third week of March
When you play as hard as most players do, then you’re bound to get hurt in the process. Throughout the week crowds were witness to a number of injuries and recoveries, of which some were good for team and others that just happened at the worst time possible.
Most teams have less than 10 games to go before the playoffs begin and the injury rosters are starting to look like team rosters.
The only matchup of Monday which had players come back or go out with injuries was Vancouver hosting Minnesota at the Rogers Arena. The Wild were able to rev up their engines once again when centre Mikko Koivu returned after missing 11 games due to a broken
finger and Cal Clutterbuck made his debut after missing four games with an undisclosed upper-body injury.
Vancouver was still able to win the match 4-2, even though the Wild had its missing players return and the Cancuks lost Sami Salo who was hit by a firing puck on his left arm via a shot taken by Kyle Brodziak. He was added to an already distressed group
of injured players including Alexander Elder, Kevin Bieksa and Andrew Alberts, who are all key defensemen.
Luckily, Salo returned in their next match against Colorado on the 16th.
The following day brought problems for the Washington Capitals as they observed Eric Fehr leave the match with an upper-body injury as he unwillingly added himself to the list of Washington’s other key players who are out with various injuries include Nicklas
Backstrom, with a broken finger and Mike Green, who has been out for quite a while now with a head injury after taking a puck to the face.
"He's got an upper body injury and it'll be day-to-day," Coach Chris Boudreau said after the match on Tuesday. "We were told to keep him out the rest of the game, we'll see in the morning how he is." Eric Fehr has been out since Tuesday and isn’t expected
to play in their match against the Philadelphia Flyers on the 22nd.
Left wing Henrik Zetterberg of the Detroit Red Wings had to face a scary moment on the ice during their match against the Capitals on Wednesday, when he was nearly sliced by a stick on his face but fortunately was saved due to his helmet’s visor. The sticks
blade barely touched him even that was enough to instantly drop him to the ice, with his hands to his face. Zetterberg scored two of Detroit’s goals that night, lifting the Red Wings to a 3-2 victory.
In his first season with the Vancouver Canucks, the veteran 30-year-old Manny Malhotra has become an invaluable asset, scoring multiple goals and picking up numerous assists. The Canucks went into shock after their amazing victory over Colorado, when they
learnt that Malhotra would be undergoing eye surgery after taking a puck in the eye during the game.
Get the latest news on injuries and returns in the next part of this article.
Continued in part 2
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