Though the extent of the injury is unclear at this time, Ben Wright and Chip Alexander report that Carolina Hurricanes forward Sergei Samsonov was injured early in the third period of tonight’s game against the Atlanta Thrashers. Reports indicate that Samsonov was taken off the ice on a stretcher and Alexander followed up to say that the Russian winger was taken to an Atlanta-area hospital.
Atlanta Thrashers defenseman Dustin Byfuglien delivered the hit that sent Samsonov into the boards. Canes Gameday described the situation in this Tweet.
Sergei Samsonov is tripped and falls head-first into the boards behind the Atlanta net.
Hopefully Samsonov is OK, but we’ll keep an eye on any updates and pass along the news whenever we hear more about the situation.