Penguins' Olli Maatta hospitalized overnight after being hit into bench door (Video)
Penguins defenseman Olli Maatta remains hospitalized the morning after he was shoved into an open door by Nino Niederreiter during Tuesday night’s win over the Minnesota Wild.
According to the Post-Gazette’s Dave Molinari, the Penguins team physician is scheduled for surgery with another patient Wednesday, so an update on the 21-year old blueliner isn’t expected until later in the day.
Mike Russo of the Star Tribune believes no discipline is coming for Niederreiter because "it wasn’t an overly aggressive push and because he didn’t push him directly into the boards." Regardless of whether the door was open or closed, it was a dangerous shove near the boards on a player who had already released the puck.
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“It’s unfortunate the whole situation,” Niederreiter said via Russo. “I pushed him and went for a change and I think he toe-picked the same time and the door was open. You never want to see anything like that. Obviously I feel bad.”
There has been no indication of what type of injury/injuries Maatta suffered on the hit.
UPDATE: Molinari Tweets that no discipline will be headed Niederreiter's way. Also, TSN's Bob McKenzie reports that Maatta did not sustain any internal injuries, but the damage done could keep out him week-to-week.
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Sean Leahy is the associate editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Sean_Leahy
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