Hurricanes forward absolutely blasted by Leafs winger, leaves the game in the first period
The Toronto Maple Leafs have seen a pretty drastic increase in physicality this year and are finishing a lot more checks than we're used to seeing. A few weeks ago, Sheldon Keefe told the media that the sharp increase in hits by his team tells a very different story. Keefe believes that the Leafs hitting more means that they have the puck less, which can certainly be viewed as an issue.
The Leafs are taking on the Carolina Hurricanes tonight in the 2nd half of a back-to-back after losing to the Blue Jackets in Columbus last night. Currently down 1-0 in the game, the team has continued their physical play, including this hard hit by Noah Gregor on Jesper Fast. What seemed like a pretty routine hit quickly led to some concern, as Fast seemed shaken up and had to leave the game to enter concussion protocol.
There certainly didn't seem to be anything wrong with the hit itself, with Gregor simply trying to finish his check on Fast, who had the puck on his stick and had just attempted to make an outlet pass. The problem was that since Fast was not fully braced for the hit and was not expecting it, he was caught off guard and, as a result, his head appeared to strike the glass.
So far, the Canes have provided no update on Fast and he has yet to return to the game. I'd imagine we'll know more about his status once the second period begins.
| POLL | ||
DECEMBRE 30 | 723 ANSWERS Hurricanes forward absolutely blasted by Leafs winger, leaves the game in the first period Should Noah Gregor be playing higher in the Leafs' lineup? | ||
| Yes | 535 | 74 % |
| No | 188 | 26 % |
| List of polls | ||
