The day when the New Jersey Devils clinched the playoff berth they suffered a setback as captain Brady Tkachuk suffered a freak injury. The Devils completed a 3-0 win over the New York Islanders at UBS Arenda at Saturday, their fourth consecutive win.
Tkachuk exited after an accident in the second period. He was skating near the Isles bench where Ryan Pulock was entering the place. As Pulock hopped over, his stick hit Tkachuk on the head. The Sens forward immediately seemed shaken as he took his place on their bench.
Tkachuk went back on the ice for a shift before skating towards the locker room. He came out with his team after the second intermission but managed one more shift before leaving the game altogether.
NHL insider Elliotte Friedman on Sportsnet’s Saturday Headlines later in the evening reported that Tkachuk’s injury didn’t require urgent attention.
“Well, I think we were all watching this today because it was a strange play and we were all sitting here wondering what exactly happened with Brady Tkachuk,” he said. “This happened late in the second period. He tried to come back in the third but wasn’t able to do so. It certainly was a little bit scary there.
“I think we will get more clarity or an update tomorrow, Ron, but the word we are getting is that he is still getting tested, but thankfully it is not expected to be anything significant. Glad to hear that. Nobody wants to see that and we should get more clarity tomorrow, we hope. All right, three teams looking for a general manager.”
Right at the start of the game, Tkachuk and Isles captain Anders Lee dropped their gloves. This was the second time the two leaders had gotten into a fight. There wasn’t any update whether engaging in the fight compounded the injury for Tkachuk.
Edited by R. Nikhil Parshy
