Tuesday seems like it’s shaping up to be a rough night for the Toronto Maple Leafs, though it also seems like it could have been worse.
At the moment, they’re down 5-1. (One would say they’re about to lose but see: Canucks, Vancouver.) They also almost lost James van Riemsdyk, and worse yet, to a hit by his own teammate Dion Phaneuf. Leafs Nation shared a GIF of the hit from Sportsnet’s footage:
Manny Elk captured the moment of impact:
JVR went to the Leafs locker room for some time, but the good news is that he returned to Toronto’s bench. That doesn’t mean he’s out of the woods altogether - players come back quickly from injuries only to miss more time in plenty of instances - but at the moment it seems like it might be a dodged bullet.
Randy Carlyle says JVR went to the "quiet room." He passed the concussion test and was said to be feeling fine.
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) March 12, 2014