Bruins' Horton to miss remainder of playoffs

Boston Bruins forward Nathan Horton suffered a severe concussion Monday during Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Vancouver Canucks and will miss the remainder of the Stanley Cup Final, the Bruins announced Tuesday.

Horton was injured at the 5:07 mark of Boston's 8-1 victory at TD Garden after absorbing a late, open-ice hit delivered by defenseman Aaron Rome at the Canucks' blue line. Horton had just passed the puck to teammate Milan Lucic when Rome delivered the hit.

Rome was assessed a five-minute major for interference and a game misconduct for the hit. Horton, who was stretchered off the ice after the hit, was transported to Massachusetts General Hospital for further observation.

Rome has a hearing with NHL disciplinarian Mike Murphy at 11 a.m. on Tuesday.

"It's very unfortunate to see one of your teammates going down like that," Boston captain Zdeno Chara said Monday. "Nathan is such a great guy and obviously we all know that he's a great player. Somehow you have to find a way to put it behind you in the game and stay focused and play the game. The best way to get revenge is to win a game. That's what we did and now we have to wish him the best recovery and I'm sure he's going to be OK."

Boston did not score on the five-minute power play, but scored four goals in the second period and four more in the third to fuel the most lopsided win in the Stanley Cup final in the past 15 years.

Game 4 is Wednesday at TD Garden (8 p.m. ET, VERSUS, CBC, RDS).

With Horton unavailable, Boston will have to make at least one lineup change for Game 4 and could see its offensive production compromised.

Horton, 26, is tied for second on the Bruins in playoff scoring with 17 points, including 8 goals. Each of his 8 goals have come in a Bruins win and he has 3 game-winning goals, including the winning goal in both Game 7s Boston has played this postseason -- in overtime in the first round against the Montreal Canadiens and in the conference finals against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The Bruins scratched rookie Tyler Seguin in Game 3 in favor of rugged fourth-liner Shawn Thornton. Now, it appears that Seguin will be back in the lineup for Wednesday’s game. How the lines will look, however, remains a question.

After Horton's injury in Game 3, third-line forward Rich Peverley saw time in Horton's place on Boston's top line, joining Lucic and David Krejci. That combo paid immediate dividends as the top line was on the ice for Andrew Ference's game-opening goal. Peverley and Krejci earned assists on the play.

i don't blame the bruins for sitting him out the rest of the way. I hope the bruins use this as a rally point and shut the canucks and their fans up.

 

tought break for horton, hope he is ok, but outside of the hit being late, i really didn't see anything wrong with it, Rome elbow appears to be right in the "B" on Horton's jersey, Horton got caught admiring his pass.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8voTc9A7qDQ

he is in front of Horton the whole time.... this isn't the rule 48 hit they are trying to get out of the game, just a defender standing up a forward admiring his pass

 

rule 48 hits:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Z1vJrIAg-0

cooke's primary source of contact was the head and from behind, classic rule 48

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2R8maaJPeFE

same thing as cooke, primary source of contact was the head and it was from behind

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIXcGOr4-04

more of the same, primary source of contact was to the head and richards hit him from behind

 

all 3 of those hits were from guys backchecking, rome was skating backwards in front of Horton, the only thing you can argue is that it was late.

 

You need to watch again.  He didn't get a serious concussion by hitting his ass on the ice. That was a shoulder right to his head.

I am not sure what this hit has to do with Canucks fans or shutting up anyone.  The hit is friggen tragedy and sh*t like that hit has to be removed from the game....for all players and fans of the game.  I would imagine most Canuck fans hate what happened -- not just because it stirred up a hornets nest - but because Horton is a young man and is in a bad way because of the stupid friggen hit. 

Also if it was such a clean hit why was he kicked out of the game and will probably sit for the next two.

 

1st he did defintley caught rome's sholuder to his head, but rome's skates where on the ice when it happened, nothing illegal there.... 2nd he got an interference penalty which i agree is legit, the hit was defintley a little late, 3rd he will miss the next 2 to 3 games because he is a bottom feeding nobody in the league, if this was Chara or Pronger or the Sedin Twins you know as well as I do nothing would happen.

Headshots are illeagal no matter where your skates are.  You need to check the rules.  No hits to the head remember !!!!  That's what they are trying to get out of the game.

And you don't speak for me.  No matter who did that they would sit.  Maybe not 3 games, but sure would be 1 or 2

I think he should set for the rest of the series.

Not all shoulder to head hits are illegal, even in today's NHL.

This hit wasn't illegal because of the shoulder to head part, it was a late hit.

Rome will be out the rest of the final in my opinion though.

Wow everyone...did I miss the memo that you can still give head shots in the NHL ?

Please chime in.

Well maybe not an official ban on head shots, but have much stricter enforcement on them.  Which I have so far seen anything to the head called and or suspended.

But Blindside hits to the head are banned and that is what happened last night.

You can't check without your shoulder. Heads hit the shoulder ALL THE TIME in hockey. Not ALL Shoulder to head hits are illegal, only a certain segment as stated in the rule...

https://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=520875

As promised, the League's general managers delivered a stern message Wednesday that a certain segment of shoulder-to-head hits -- specifically those coming from the blind side of an opponent -- no longer will be tolerated in the NHL.
 
The 30 GMs, in their final day of meetings here, emerged from Wednesday's discussion with a unanimously approved resolution to introduce a new rule proposal to penalize blind-side hits to the head.
 
The rule proposal reads as follows:
 
"A lateral, back pressure or blind-side hit to an opponent where the head is targeted and/or is the principal point of contact is not permitted. A violation of the above will result in a minor or major penalty and shall be reviewed for possible supplemental discipline."

Well where he did release the puck it isn't blindside by rule.

But it was dirty as hell and it will be interesting if the twins have a target on thier head next game.  But I would imagin Julian will put a squash on that.

No, Horton just admired his pass in the death zone and got clocked. Scott Stevens made a living doing that.

Rome should be suspended, don't get me wrong, but because it was a late hit.

If Horton looks up, he gets hit still, but I don't think he gets knocked out.

Look at what I posted right after that.

I don't know if revenge would be a good idea. Too many power plays for Canucks would be trouble for Boston.

Sometimes we post faster than we can read the new posts lol

That's why I said Julien would put the squash on that.  But I do think the B's play very physical again. 

I think Game 3 is going to be fun to watch.

Bruins embarrassed the Canucks so Van will come out hard and with Horton out some Bruins may take some shots at the Canucks.

I wonder how much the refs will let go early or if penalties will come often in the first few minutes.

Game 4***

I'm looking for tons of PP's. I will be playing over 5