Minnesota Wild forward Tyler Pitlick was kicked out of Thursday’s game after his hit left another Carolina Hurricanes defenseman with an injury.
Pitlick received a match penalty for an illegal check to the head in the first period after he caught Jalen Chatfield with a hit that sent the defenseman’s head snapping back.
Chatfield was down on the ice for a while before being assisted to the dressing room, adding to Carolina’s injury woes on the blue line.
Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal jumped in and fought Pitlick. Staal received 17 penalty minutes, including two for instigating and a misconduct, in his milestone game.
Staal was playing in his 910th game with the Hurricanes, breaking brother Eric’s record for most appearances since the team moved to North Carolina.
The Hurricanes announced that Chatfield would not return because of an upper body injury. That’s bad news for the Hurricanes, who have been banged up on the blue line.
They had activated defenseman K’Andre Miller from the injured list before the 4-3 Carolina win. Shayne Gostisbehere remains out with an injury and Jaccob Slavin has been limited to two games.
‘This is just the way this year has gone,’ coach Rod Brind’Amour said. ‘We just can’t get healthy and then keep losing key pieces. That’s rough. I don’t know how long (Chatfield is) going to be out, but it was a tough hit.’
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