Jonathan Drouin has a knack for scoring the sort of ludicrous goals that just a select few other players could even hope to match. Unfortunately, he’s also absorbed his fair share of huge hits, sometimes in the same games.
Tuesday presented a situation like that, as Drouin looked off Peter Budaj before scoring an outstanding 1-0 goal. You can watch that sublimely skilled tally in the video above.
Later on in the game, Los Angeles Kings forward Nic Dowd caught Drouin with a huge hit, with the young Lightning star only recognizing the danger of his situation mere moments before the check. Drouin seemed insistent on staying on the Bolts’ bench after the hit at first, but he eventually left for observation (perhaps after a request from a tracker?).
Here’s the hit:
We’ll find out soon enough if Drouin avoided injury here. He returned to the game midway through the second period, but sometimes players suffer setbacks once the adrenaline subsides.
The Lightning are already playing down one forward, as Alex Killorn was unable to go on Tuesday due to an undisclosed injury. Tampa Bay currently holds a 2-0 lead against the Kings.