It was a scary scene at the Wells Fargo Center on Wednesday night, as Philadelphia Flyers forward Scott Laughton was stretchered off the ice in tonight’s matchup against the Washington Capitals in Game 4 of their best of seven playoff series.
The injury occurred with just under four minutes to go in the first period, as Laughton tried to carry the puck towards the net when Washington defender John Carlson bumped him. The contact knocked him off stride, awkwardly sending him hard into the boards. Laughton’s head and neck hit the boards fairly hard. Referees blew the play dead, as Laughton laid on the ice, barely moving.
Laughton was put in a stretcher as fans and his teammates silently watched in horror. Fans gave him applause as he was stretchered off.
The hit, while potentially causing a serious injury, wasn’t a dirty one. Carlson was looking to prevent Laughton from cutting in on the net, and Laughton just blew a tire as he tried to go wide on him. He was going so fast he made a hard impact against the boards. Carlson wasn’t penalized and shouldn’t face any further discipline for the play. It was unfortunate but something that is just part of the game.
Laughton is a former first-round pick of the Flyers, drafted 20th overall in 2012. The 21-year-old is in his second professional season with Philadelphia and was playing in just his third career playoff game. A high-impact player in the OHL with the Oshawa Generals, Laughton has been slowly groomed in his NHL career playing mostly bottom-six minutes with the Flyers.
The hit was very scary. Hopefully, the injury is less serious than it looks.
