- Ryan Nugent-Hopkins left Saturday’s win over the Canucks after a puck hit him in the head
- Mike Babcock doesn’t expect the Oilers forward to miss much time
- Read below for the video of the puck hitting Nugent-Hopkins and Babcock’s full update
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins took a scary one Saturday night in Edmonton.
The Oilers forward was hit on the side of the head by a shoot-in attempt from teammate Ryan Shea 45 seconds into the second period of a 4-2 win over the Canucks. Nugent-Hopkins left the ice immediately and did not return.
Watch the puck hit Nugent-Hopkins:
Head coach Mike Babcock talked about the injury after the game and sounded relieved. He was asked how Nugent-Hopkins looked after the medical staff checked him out.
“I don’t think he is (going to miss much time), actually. Initially, you’re worried about a broken jaw and they did an assessment on that. Just knowing our medical guys, there will probably be more assessments tomorrow. But I just shook his hand, he was in the hallway and seemed to be doing OK.”
Here’s how the quote played out in the postgame scrum:
The 33-year-old has 11 points (four goals, seven assists) in nine games this season. He missed the first nine games with a lower-body injury and made his season debut on Oct. 22 against the Hurricanes.
He also set the Oilers all-time games played record Tuesday in New Jersey, as we covered in our earlier post on the milestone.
Edmonton still got the win. Leon Draisaitl scored twice and Connor McDavid added three assists to push his season-opening point streak to 18 games, and Devon Levi returned in goal with 20 saves.
Nugent-Hopkins is set for more assessments Sunday.
