Jordan Staal exits Hurricanes win over Panthers with upper-body injury
Jordan Staal exited the Carolina Hurricanes’ Sunday game against the Florida Panthers with an upper-body injury.
The 28-year-old Staal left the Hurricanes’ bench in the first period and didn’t return for the rest of the game. In the first period, Staal took a stick to the head from Panthers Jason Demers while Demers was falling down after a check.
[Join a Yahoo Daily Fantasy Hockey contest now]
After the game, coach Bill Peters said he didn’t have an update on Staal.
Losing Staal for any period of time could hurt Carolina’s forward depth as they try to come back from a tough start. Carolina has won six of their last eight games after starting the year 3-5-3.
The Hurricanes beat the Panthers 3-2, coming back from a 2-0 deficit with goals from Viktor Stalberg, Jeff Skinner and Derek Ryan. Goaltender Michael Leighton stopped 31 of 33 shots and picked up an assist in his first NHL win since Dec. 30, 2010.
Staal hasn’t notched a point in his last six games, but he has averaged 19:15 of ice-time per-game in 19 contests overall, which ranks first amongst Hurricanes forwards. He has also won 60.4 percent of his face-offs. Last season Staal had 20 goals and 48 points in 82 games for his best full season total with the Hurricanes.
He’s in the fourth season of a 10-year, $60 million deal he signed with the team after a trade from the Pittsburgh Penguins in the summer of 2012.
– – – – – – –
Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper
MORE FROM YAHOO SPORTS
