A head-to-head collision between Andrew Shaw and Greg Pateryn resulted in the former having to be helped off ice in Montreal on Tuesday night.
Shaw initiated the contact, appearing to try and catch Pateryn with his head down. Shaw managed to lay the big hit, but replays showed Shaw’s head bouncing off Pateryn’s, forcing the Montreal Canadiens forward out of the game.
Here’s the footage:
Oh man that's not good.
— Scott Matla (@scottmatla) March 14, 2018
Andrew Shaw throws a major hit on Greg Pateryn, but collides head on head too. pic.twitter.com/nFD1lYZsyD
“He was knocked out as soon as he hit me,” Pateryn told The Atheltic’s Arpon Basu after the game. “He knocked himself out when he hit me. I didn’t realize he was knocked out until he was on the ice and his eyes were in the back of his head. I mean, you play like that, that’s what happens sometimes.
Pateryn continued: “I’m fine, but that speaks for itself, the way he plays. That’s why he has four or five concussions a year.”
Here’s another angle of the hit, which shows the clashing of skulls:
Alternate angle is not any better. pic.twitter.com/c0KBSnZWqN
— Scott Matla (@scottmatla) March 14, 2018
Per Sportsnet’s Eric Engels, Canadiens head coach Claude Julien said Shaw hadn’t been transported to hospital, but the team’s training staff were keeping a close eye on him. Julien said he wasn’t sure if Shaw was concussed on the play.
Given Shaw’s lengthy history of concussions, it’s hard to believe he wasn’t, and that’s bad news no matter how you look at it.
Scott Billeck is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @scottbilleck