The Dallas Stars franchise-record crowd left happy Saturday night after a dramatic comeback provided two valuable points for their playoff pursuits, but possibly their most valuable player left the game after a nasty head-to-head collision with a charging Erik Haula.
Kari Lehtonen was completely rocked, and left with a laceration and perhaps more. The video is not pretty, but you know you’re going to watch it…
Haula’s speed and angle leave him no time to stop and no room to get out of the way as his helmet contacts Kari’s dead-on, causing Lehtonen’s to fly off. The goaltender’s head then makes violent contact with the cross-bar, then again looks impacted as he hits the supporting post in the back of the cage.
And he got cut and had to leave with a towel on his face.
Is that suspension worthy? The league will take into account any possible injury before deciding but Antoine Roussel did as much the other night and was not punished beyond the penalty, and Haula was heavily penalized this evening with the major, which allowed Dallas to tie the game, and the game misconduct.
We’ll update with Kari’s condition when word is made available, but we may not here about this one until tomorrow.
You hate to use the C-word with this, but that slow motion replay is quite graphic and the crossbar is unyielding. Pray for Kari. This might be why you go out and get a Tim Thomas in the midst of a playoff race.
