Whenever the Toronto Maple Leafs play the Boston Bruins, the common denominator always seems to be Brad Marchand. Whether it's a goal, a hit, or a dirty play, he finds himself in the middle of everything. Tonight's game was no different as he collided with Maple Leafs forward Matthew Knies in the middle of the first period with the rookie immediately leaving the ice.
With 7:33 remaining on the clock, Auston Matthews fired a shot from the angle that was easily handled by Jeremy Swayman. As the rebound was being corralled by the Bruins, Knies was skating into the middle of the ice and looked to have run into a brick wall with Marchand standing him up and getting the elbow up.
Marchand looked to have noticed Knies was coming in hot for the rebound and hit him around the shoulder area, but making some head contact as well. Knies spun, fell to ice, and was slow in getting up before he finally made his way to the bench - hunched over, however.
Knies had a lengthy conversation with the trainers on the bench before finally heading into the dressing room. He was clutching his hand the whole time and unsurprisingly he has not yet returned to the game. He played 3:18 of ice-time and accrued 2 PIMs upon his departure. Whether it's a head injury, a hand injury, a shoulder injury or multiple injuries in some combination, it doesn't look good for the rookie forward coming back in this one.
