I wasn’t the only person wondering yesterday if we were nearing the point in time that the NHL and NHLPA had conversations about facial protection. Blackhawks superstar Connor Bedard broke his jaw this season and missed 14 games over six weeks. He had worn the bubble previously when playing for Canada internationally, so it wasn’t a big change for him. But, when asked if he was going to keep the bubble for any long period of time, he said he was going to take it off as soon as possible.
Which brings me to Sunday’s NHL playoff action. Unfortunately, we saw two scary moments in games that had towels being applied to faces on the ice and players getting helped to the room. The first came in the Avs’ 5-1 win over the Jets. In the middle of the third period, Colorado forward Vlad Namestikov took a shot to the face and went down in a heap. It was a scary moment for sure. He was taken to a local hospital for attention during the game.
Not very long after that in real time, Canucks defenseman Tyler Myers took a puck to the face as well. He needed medical attention immediately as well, though he didn’t need to leave the arena.
In the same game, Preds defenseman Roman Josi also took a puck to the ear area that led to a lot of blood and him missing time to get put back together.
Yeah, these are freak, one-off moments and those shouldn’t change the dynamic of the entire game; that would be an overreaction. But pucks, sticks and hands to the face happen frequently enough that one does have to wonder if, at some point, there’s a conversation about making full facial protection a more common part of the NHL game. It’s mandatory at some lower levels (including college). And the number of guys getting hurt on Sunday made me wonder that once again.
Happy 36th birthday to the greatest captain in Blackhawks history, Jonathan Toews. Here’s hoping you’re on the golf course enjoying the sun.
Congrats to the New York Rangers, who became the first team to punch their ticket to the second round on Sunday. They swept the Caps with relative ease, and completely eliminated Alex Ovechkin from the conversation. It was an impressive series for the Blue Shirts — but that’s what the Presidents Trophy winners should do to a team with the worst regular season goal differential in recent playoff memory.
Beyond Myers’ injury, the Canucks authored a game that may go down in their franchise history as one of the more important postseason performances ever. Vancouver erased a two-goal in the final three minutes of regulation; Brock Boeser had a hat trick in regulation. Then Elias Lindholm won it for the Canucks in overtime. The win puts Vancouver one win away from advancing. Vancouver started Arturs Silovs in net yesterday, their third different goalie already in the series.
The Avalanche and Oilers also took 3-1 leads in their respective series. Colorado has had no trouble beating likely Vezina winner Connor Hellebuyck in their series; Edmonton was able to escape with a 1-0 win on Sunday.
On Monday night, the Florida Panthers can do the Blackhawks a solid and knock out the Lightning. That would provide Blackhawks fans — and the front office — a little more clarity on how early Chicago’s second pick in the first round will be on the clock. Florida has a 3-1 series lead.
Vegas will look take a 3-1 lead on Dallas tonight as that series finally reaches its fourth game.
Finally, this year’s MLB uniforms have been a laughing stock since the start of Spring Training. The laughter has become loud enough that MLB and Nike are now looking to make changes. But how soon can they fix the mess?
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