Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman on Headlines on Coloado Avalanche forward Mikko Rantanen.
“Last night Edmonton played his best game of the year beating Colorado 6-2. But one of the biggest developments was Mattias Ekholm. Two big hits on Mikko Rantanen the second of which not Rantanen out of the game.
Now, the Avalanche were off . They play at home against Dallas . Expect that we’ll hear an update on Rantanen then. He did travel home with the team and it doesn’t appear as if this is the worst-case scenario, thankfully. We’ll hear what the Avalanche have to say but the preliminary news is it’s not as bad as it could have been, thankfully.”
Sean Farrell of NHL.com: Montreal Canadiens defenseman Kaiden Guhle and Arber Xhekaj missed last night’s game with upper-body injuries. Guhle is day-to-day and Xhekaj is being further assessed.
Lou Korac of NHL.com: St. Louis Blues defensemen Justin Faulk and forward Jake Neighbours left yesterday’s game in the second period.
Coach Drew Bannister said that both players will be evaluated before today’s game.
Wes Crosby of NHL.com: Tampa Bay Lightning forward Anthony Cirelli missed last night’s game. Cirelli suffered an undisclosed injury on Thursday.
Wes Crosby of NHL.com: Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Haydn Fleury left yesterday’s game in the third period after a collision with referee Steve Kozari.
Korari was stretchered off the ice. He was taken to the hospital for precautionary reasons and is expected to make a full recovery.
Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman on Headlines and the Kozari-Fleury collision.
Ron MacLean: “Elliotte, listen on a scary moment for Steve Kuzari. There is good news on that front …”
Friedman: “So this was earlier . A completely fluke play Hayden Fluery and Steve Kozari colliding. It was really scary. The moment Fluery left the game. Kozari, he was taken off on a stretcher. Now, the key thing is here is he does grab the hands of Carl Flemington, so we kind of knew in the moment that he was okay. The NHL said he was making a full recovery.
He was supposed to officiate Detroit-Buffalo , he won’t. He’ll have some time off obviously. But again the prognosis is good. Everything now precautionary. He does a lot for the NHL, the playoffs, he’s done four Stanley Cup finals.
Dan Greenspan of NHL.com: Vancouver Canucks coach Rick Tocchet doesn’t have an exact return date for goaltender Thatcher Demko but said “it’s fairly soon.”
Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman on Headlines on Demko.
“The other injury we’ve been watching and so have the Canucks is that of Thatcher Demko. They’re in LA night. Demko can come off the LTIR. As of now he was eligible today but the Canucks know, as Lou Lamorello says, when you have time you use it. They have time they will use it wouldn’t be surprised Ron if we don’t see him in a game for around at least another week.”