Sean Kuraly left the Blue Jackets' game Saturday night at Nationwide Arena with an abdominal injury that caused him to collapse behind the bench and bring an early end to the first period.
The Blue Jackets issued an update during the second intermission on X, formerly known as Twitter, saying the veteran forward would be further evaluated at nearby Grant Medical Center due to an abdominal injury that occurred behind the Toronto Maple Leafs bench near the end of the first half. a period.
“Sean Kuraly suffered an abdominal injury,” Blue Jackets spokesman Todd Sharrock said. “Although his injury does not appear to be serious at this time, he will be transported to Grant Medical Center for further evaluation.”
Coraly, 30, is from Dublin, and played for the Ohio AAA Blue Jackets development program, Miami of Ohio and the Boston Bruins before signing with the Blue Jackets in July 2021. He is positioned on the Jackets' fourth line and was checking in when defenseman Jake McCabe was injured while fighting along The Final Wall with Auston Matthews. McCabe's left shoulder came into contact with Kuraly's head and hit his helmet, but the injury occurred when the Blue Jackets' stick struck him in the abdomen.
Coraly left the ice with less than a minute left in the period and bent over while clutching his stomach. Once he reached the bench, he bent down on one knee before being helped down the tunnel to the Jackets' locker room.
After a few moments of bending over, Coraly collapsed and needed help getting to the locker room. Blue Jackets players immediately began yelling at the officials to stop the game and a white towel was thrown in the air to get their attention. Once play stopped, a paramedic climbed onto the ice from the Zamboni entrance and headed toward the Blue Jackets' bench.
“I was told that everything should be fine, but they are checking to make sure everything is fine,” Blue Jackets coach Pascal Vincent said. “It was a scary moment. You know what happened, the hit and then he went back to the bench, (but) after that what happened in the hallway, I don’t know. I just saw the coaches and the medical staff, and it was urgent. It's not fun. You don't want to see that.”
The period was stopped with 18.3 seconds left in the game and the Maple Leafs led 1-0.
That time was added to the start of the second half, but Coraly's health was a bigger concern inside the Blue Jackets' locker room.
“You have no idea what's going on, but when someone waves that towel, you hope they get to it quickly,” Blue Jackets defenseman Erik Gudbranson said. “The first part (during the break) was intense, but once we got that word (it was OK), I reset and went out and played,” he added.
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