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Kovalchuk Injured
by Alanah McGinley on 01/30/08 at 10:11 PM ET
Comments (8)
From the AP via USAToday,
The Thrashers snapped a five-game losing streak, but Atlanta’s 4-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday night might have been costly as leading scorer Ilya Kovalchuk left the game with an apparent knee injury.
Kovalchuk scored his 38th goal, but was forced out of the game for good in the second period. He was injured in a knee-on-knee hit from Pittsburgh’s Jarkko Ruutu and made a brief return later in the frame for one shift, but didn’t return.
Kovalchuk was leveled by Ruutu 3:21 into the second period. The collision left Kovalchuk laying on the ice in obvious pain in front of Atlanta’s bench before he limped to the locker room.
Updated 11:55pm ET: Video of the incident below.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Atlanta Thrashers, Pittsburgh Penguins | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: ilya+kovalchuk, injury, jarkko+ruutu,
Comments
Nice to see McCarthy get into things and throw a barage of punches at Ruutu, though most were at the back of his head.
The hit was questionable no doubt, looked like Jarkko was going for a knee on knee hit.
Posted by PuckHound61 from Speckville USA on 01/31/08 at 01:00 AM ET
I dont know if its questionable or not. Rutuu looked surprised to see what had happened. He shouldnt be suspended by the league.
Also, kovalchuk is an embarassment to the game. He’s such a whiner. But I would be too, I suppose, if I had played for ATL my entire career.
Posted by DrW on 01/31/08 at 07:27 AM ET
from Empty Netters,
It’s not a good call by the officials in our book. Ruutu didn’t stick his leg out to injure Kovalchuk. It was just an unfortunate collision. There certainly are instances throughout Ruutu’s career where you can call him a dirty player. This isn’t one of them
Posted by Paul from Motown Area on 01/31/08 at 08:36 AM ET
If Kovalchuk wasn’t trying to avoid the elbow to the head he probably wouldn’t have taken the hit to the knee. So the choice is concussion or knee injury.
Posted by Hockey1919 from Montreal on 01/31/08 at 09:28 AM ET
If Kovalchuk had taken the hit, the knee-on-knee would have been worse for both guys, not to mention any other potential injuries to result from the play.
Posted by Alan from Atlanta on 01/31/08 at 11:45 AM ET
Hockey1919 - you are a joke along w/ the rest of your Canadian brethren that hate everything non-Canadian when it comes to hockey. Elbow to the head??? If that was Darcy Tucker instead of Ruutu you’d call Kovalchuk a wuss for avoiding the hit. Wake up.
Posted by mcfly from USA on 01/31/08 at 01:12 PM ET
PS Tucker plays for Toronto and is still gutless for his knee-on-knee hit to Peca. So no one from Montreal would ever defend him.
PPS Ruutu and Kovalchuk are both Europeans so what would Canada have to do with?
PPPS
Still born in the USA on assignment in Montreal. Just not a redneck.
Posted by Hockey1919 from Montreal on 02/01/08 at 12:07 PM ET
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Hockey Links
If Kovy is out for too long Hossa will definitely be out of the ATL, because that team will fall out of the race quick.
Posted by Cory on 01/31/08 at 12:13 AM ET