Already down one game in the best-of-five series against the Calgary Flames, any news that would see either or both of Mark Scheifele and Patrik Laine not in the lineup would be bad news.
Things are not looking good Jets fans..
Sara Orlesky of TSN notes that both Scheifele and Laine are doubtful for Monday’s game against the Calgary Flames. Scheifele was seen in a walking boot, but speculation is that his injury might not keep him out the entire series.
As many fans know, Scheifele was helped off the ice Saturday early in a loss to the Flames. The center took an awkward fall and a skate to the back of the leg when Flames’ forward Matthew Tkachuk hit him into the boards and seemingly lost his balance.
The play was not received well by Jets’ head coach Paul Maurice who doubled-down on comments that the play was “filthy and dirty”, according to Ken Wiebe of Sportsnet. Maurice believes what Tkachuk did was intentional. He said:
“It was intentional. It was a filthy, dirty kick to the back of the leg,” Maurice said after his team dropped the series opener 4-1. “You can’t see it on the program feed, but take the blue line feed and you zoom in. He went after the back of the leg. He could have cut his Achilles. He could have ended the man’s career. It’s an absolutely filthy, disgusting hit.
“I was about as clear as a man can be about what I saw.”
Not everyone agrees.
Is Maurice Posturing?
Many are saying Maurice is over-exaggerating a freak incident and is doing so to posture and get the Jets rallied and back into the series. Some are saying Maurice is playing off of Tkachuk’s history of physical play and not always clean hits.
It will be interesting to see if that strategy works and if Scheifele comes back sooner than later, how many people suggest Maurice was taking advantage of a terrible situation.
Laine Out Too
While there isn’t much in the way of updates on Laine’s injury, it is expected he will miss Monday afternoon’s game as well.
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