Montreal Canadiens forward Jake Evans was taken off the ice on a stretcher after taking a massive hit from Winnipeg Jets center Mark Scheifele during Game 1 of their second-round playoff series on Wednesday night.
The incident happened with under a minute remaining in the third period, when Evans scored an empty-net goal to put Montreal up 5-3 (that would serve as the final score). Evans chased down the puck and went with a wrap-around shot for the empty-netter, right before taking a huge hit from Scheifele, who came skating in at full speed.
Mark Scheifele tossed for flattening Jake Evans after he scores on the empty net. pic.twitter.com/kE6nU3vDCD
— Brady Trettenero (@BradyTrett) June 3, 2021
Mark Scheifele gets a 5 minute major for charging on Jake Evans. #WeAreWPG #GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/PcCwBqHQS2
— NHL News (@PuckReportNHL) June 3, 2021
A scary scene in Winnipeg as Jake Evans was stretchered off the ice after taking a hit from Mark Scheifele. pic.twitter.com/XFNlzcdy5I
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) June 3, 2021
Evans was down for several minutes before being stretchered off. While there are not yet details about any injuries suffered, he’s at least doing better according to Montreal head coach Dominique Ducharme, who called the hit “useless.”
Dominique Ducharme says Jake Evans is still at MTS and doing better. Called the Scheifele hit "useless."
— Eric Engels (@EricEngels) June 3, 2021
Scheifele was ejected, and it’s easy to see a potential suspension coming (and perhaps a lengthy one at that). And if he’s allowed to return to the series, Montreal defenseman Joel Edmundson said that the Canadiens are “going to make his life miserable.”
"It was a dirty hit. But the league's going to take care of it. If he gets back in the series, we're going to make his life miserable."
— @CanadiensMTL defenseman Joel Edmundson on Mark Scheifele's hit on Jake Evans.
— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) June 3, 2021
Game 2 is Friday night in Winnipeg.
