Vince Dunn has fast emerged as a valuable part of St. Louis’ blueline and he’s continued to be an asset in the playoffs, but the Blues will be without him for at least the rest of Game 3.
Dunn was struck in the mouth by the puck in the first period and had to immediately exit the game as a result. His mouth was clearly bloodied as he skated off and St. Louis announced that he won’t return due to an upper-body injury.
Going into the game, Dunn had been logging a somewhat modest 16:34 minutes per contest in the playoffs, but he had been making the most of that ice time. He had two goals and seven points in 15 contests and went into Wednesday’s action on a three-game point streak.
Without him, the Blues have had to make due with just five defensemen. Alex Pietrangelo alone logged 18:55 minutes over the first two periods.
His absence has definitely been felt, but the Blues deserve a ton of credit for fighting through it. St. Louis fought back from 2-0 and 3-1 deficits to enter the third period up 4-3, though the Blues ultimately lost 5-4 in overtime.
Sharks-Blues Game 4 from Enterprise Center will be Friday evening at 8:00 p.m. ET on NBCSN
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Ryan Dadoun is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @RyanDadoun.