Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere left last night’s victory over the Los Angeles Kings with a lower-body injury, according to a team announcement. After the game, head coach Rod Brind’Amour told the media, including team reporter Walt Ruff, that Gostisbehere “tweaked something,” and could add to the list of injured Hurricanes defensemen – one that already includes star blueliner Jaccob Slavin, who is out indefinitely with a lower-body injury of his own.
If Gostisbehere is to miss any games with this injury, beyond just the portion of the game he missed last night, it would be a serious blow to the Hurricanes defense. Despite playing in the fewest even-strength minutes per game of any Hurricanes blueliner so far this season, Gostisbehere quarterbacks Carolina’s top power play unit and is tied for the league lead in points by a defenseman with seven in five games. In Gostisbehere absence, offseason addition K’Andre Miller took over the team’s top power play unit, and in terms of who could draw into the lineup in the case that Gostisbehere misses game action moving forward, rookie Charles-Alexis Legault is in position as the team’s current spare blueliner.
Other injury notes from around the league:
- Vegas Golden Knights captain Mark Stone left last night’s victory over the Calgary Flames with an apparent wrist injury, reports Mark Anderson of the Associated Press. According to Anderson, Stone left the ice midway through the third period, clearly dealing with something. After the game, head coach Bruce Cassidy didn’t have a further update on Stone’s status, but said they’d likely have more information to give on Monday. Stone, 33, ranks second in leaguewide scoring at the moment with 13 points in six games, and it’s worth noting that he has been injury prone for much of his NHL career. Stone hasn’t hit 70 games played in a season since 2018-19, and played in 66 games last season.
- Dallas Stars defenseman Nils Lundkvist suffered a lower-body injury in the team’s Thursday contest against the Vancouver Canucks, an injury that limited him to a season-low 11:18 time-on-ice. Last night, Stars coach Glen Gulutzan provided an additional update on Lundkvist’s status, telling the media (including the Dallas News’ Lia Assimakopoulos) that Lundkvist would be out for “a little bit” with the injury. Lundkvist, 25, has scored three points through four games so far this season, and saw his spot on the team’s second pairing alongside Thomas Harley filled by veteran Ilya Lyubushkin.