The Ottawa Senators were shaken by an injury suffered by defenseman Erik Brannström on Thursday night in a loss to the New York Islanders.
The sequence occurred midway through the second period.
Pursuing the puck near the boards in the offensive zone, Brannström suffered a check from forward Cal Clutterbuck, and it was his head that took the hit.
The Swedish rearguard remained motionless on the ice, and the Sens medical team quickly requested the use of a stretcher.
After about ten minutes marked by a long silence at the UBS Center, Brannström was taken to an ambulance, to respectful applause from the crowd.
“Erik Brannström is alert, has full use of his extremities and was transported to an area hospital for further evaluation,” the Senators said in a statement.
Aged 24, Brannström has played 196 games in the NHL, all with Ottawa, including the first six for his club at the start of the season.
Trailing 2-1 at the time, DJ Smith’s men tied the game moments after the incident involving Brannström, through Jakob Chychrun.
Despite 47 shots on Ilya Sorokin’s cage, the Senators fell 3 to 2. Ottawa lost for the third time in a row.
It was a goal from Noah Dobson at 6:45 of the third period that made the difference for the Islanders.
Bo Horvat scored early in the game, after only 2:41 of play, on the power play. Dobson had an assist on the goal, extending his streak of games with at least one point to five.
Ottawa managed to close the gap with two goals in the middle period thanks to efforts crowned by Chychrun and Claude Giroux on the power play.
