The Pittsburgh Penguins bounced back from a heartbreaking 6-5 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday night to take down the Florida Panthers 3-1 at Consol Energy Center.
But in this game, the final score is merely a footnote.
The big story is the injury to defending league MVP Evgeni Malkin, who was knocked off his feet with 15:09 remaining in the third period by Panthers defenseman Erik Gudbranson. Malkin slid backward at an extremely high rate of speed into the boards. His back struck first, causing his neck to whip violently backward and propelling his head into the dasher.
Malkin remained on the ice for about a minute before skating off under his own power
“I just finished my check,” Gudbranson said, per Rob Rossi of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “You never want to see a guy go down. He’s in a vulnerable position. But you can’t pass up a hit.”
The hit was clean, to be sure, but the result could be devastating for the Penguins.
Rossi, writing on his Chipped Ice blog this morning, revealed that Malkin, “[...] is experiencing concussion symptoms, including s ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by Kevin Jameson
Evgeni Malkin’s Injury and Why Pittsburgh Penguins Fans Shouldn’t Panic (Yet)
February 23rd, 2013 by Kevin Jameson Leave a reply »
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