Good thing Jets brought doc on trip

DENVER — The Winnipeg Jets brought their head team physician on the road with them to Denver, an extra precaution for the playoffs that doesn’t typically happen in the regular-season.

That turned out to be a good move, considering Dr. Peter MacDonald ended up being pressed into duty for both games over the weekend.

On Sunday afternoon, it was for veteran forward Vlad Namestnikov, who took a deflected Nate Schmidt slap shot directly in his face during the third period. He was motionless at first, a pool of blood forming beneath him, as players on both teams and officials frantically waved for medical help.

“It’s scary. You never want to see that much blood, no matter what, no matter who it is. Especially a guy on our squad,” said forward Mark Scheifele.

“That sucks. All you can do it hope and pray that he’s OK. That’s a scary one. Just got to pray for him.”

A stretcher was brought out but ultimately not needed as Namestnikov, clearly woozy and in distress, was helped off the ice and taken through the Colorado Avalanche bench and down the tunnel. Denver area paramedics then took him by ambulance to a nearby hospital as the game continued.

“Vladdy is at the hospital being looked at right now,” coach Rick Bowness said following the game. “That’s all I have until we get a report from what they see, what is wrong.”

On Friday night, it was defenceman Brenden Dillon who needed urgent care after suffering a gruesome skate cut to his hand during a post-game melee. The injury ended up looking a lot worse than it was, with no damage to the muscle or tendons. However, Dillon was forced to miss Sunday’s game.

“We’re hoping that he plays (Game 5) on Tuesday,” said Bowness.

“Fortunately, there is no damage at all. But unfortunately, there are a lot of stitches holding it together, so our doctors are a little hesitant to put him back in this quickly. If you asked him he’d play. He’d just tape the whole hand up and play. He has that much desire. But he’s out today and we’re hoping for Tuesday.”

Seeing a teammate go down with a frightening injury is becoming the norm for this group in the playoffs. Who can forget the sight of forward Morgan Barron suffered a skate cut to his face last year against the Vegas Golden Knights. That’s one of the reasons the Jets now take every precaution at this time of year

“Rob Millette and our training staff do a great job making sure we’re taken care of, we’re ready to play, through bumps and bruises, the treatments they do, and having Dr. McDonald on the trip and Dr. Gerald Olin, taking over in that scary situation where Brenden comes off and he’s cut and there’s blood going everywhere, I think we’re very lucky to work with the best people in the world,” said captain Adam Lowry.

“It’s nights like those that you’re really grateful that we have a supporting staff like that.”

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Barron has yet to appear in this series due to a lower-body injury suffered late in the regular-season. He’s now joined on the sidelines by Dillon and Namestnikov. That is forcing Winnipeg to use its depth, with some further tweaking likely necessary on Tuesday night.

Forward Cole Perfetti, who had 38 points (19 goals, 19 assists) in 71 regular-season games, would seem like the obvious choice to come in, especially with the Jets starving for offence. David Gustafsson, who played the first two games, and Rasmus Kupari were the other healthy scratches on Sunday.

“We’ll make some lineup changes,” is all Bowness would offer.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

X: @mikemcintyrewpg

Mike McIntyre
Sports reporter

Mike McIntyre grew up wanting to be a professional wrestler. But when that dream fizzled, he put all his brawn into becoming a professional writer.

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