Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

What a coincidence: Aaron Rome breaks hand while Nathan Horton returns to action

Vancouver Canucks v Boston Bruins - Game Three

BOSTON, MA - JUNE 06: Nathan Horton #18 of the Boston Bruins falls to the ice after being check by Aaron Rome #29 of the Vancouver Canucks during Game Three of the 2011 NHL Stanley Cup Final at TD Garden on June 6, 2011 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

Getty Images

When last we saw Nathan Horton of the Boston Bruins, he was being stretchered off the ice during Game 3 of the Stanley Cup finals after suffering a brutal hit from Vancouver defenseman Aaron Rome. With just over three months since the incident, Horton was back on the ice for the first time since Game 3, suiting up against Montreal in a preseason game in Nova Scotia.

While Horton looked great in his return to the ice, the man who put him out of action, Aaron Rome, was, depending on your set of beliefs, dealing with a bit of karmic retribution at home against San Jose. Rome was knocked out of the game with a broken hand in the second period.

Rome’s shot to Horton in Game 3 of the finals arguably turned the tide of the series as the Bruins headed into Game 3 down 2-0 in the series. From the point Horton was knocked out of action, the Bruins owned the Canucks at every game in Boston beating the Canucks down in games that weren’t even close to competitive.

Vancouver losing Rome with a broken hand hurts their defensive depth and while they’ve got all their guys back this year, getting the season off on that note isn’t so hot. Meanwhile in Boston, Horton’s return helps solidify the Bruins’ top line with Horton teaming up with David Krejci and Milan Lucic to bring a physical scoring line to the ice every night.

The coincidence of seeing Horton returning and Rome going out of action on the same night isn’t lost here. It certainly makes us want to do a little “My Name Is Earl” work to go back and right any wrongs from the past that might come back to bite us in the rear end. At the very least, if there’s any believers in bad karma in the NHL, they might think twice about taking that pointless shot at a defenseless player. At the very least, they should fear Brendan Shanahan stepping in and getting his pound of flesh via suspension. Karma or Shanahan? You make the call.