Toronto Maple Leafs’ Jake Muzzin out for remaining games in series with Blue Jackets - The Globe and Mail

Maple Leafs defenceman Jake Muzzin, who was taken to the hospital after suffering a possible neck injury Tuesday night against Columbus, has returned to the team’s hotel in Toronto.

TORONTO, ONTARIO - AUGUST 04: Jake Muzzin #8 of the Toronto Maple Leafs is carried off the ice on a stretcher during the third period in Game Two of the Eastern Conference Qualification Round prior to the 2020 NHL Stanley Cup Playoff at Scotiabank Arena on August 04, 2020 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Andre Ringuette/Freestyle Photo/Getty Images)

Andre Ringuette/Freestyle Photo/Getty Images

The 31-year-old will be unable to play in the remaining games in the best-of-five playoff qualifying series due to quarantine restrictions established in the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol. The next game is Thursday night at Scotiabank Arena. Each team has one victory.

Muzzin was hurt with less than two minutes remaining when he banged his head against the knee of an opposing player as he tried to get up. Seconds earlier, Muzzin had been knocked down by Pierre-Luc Dubois of the Blue Jackets. Muzzin got on all fours and attempted to stand, but when he was unable, laid down on his back on the ice. A trainer supported Muzzin’s neck as he was quickly surrounded and tended to by medical staff.

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Concerned players on both teams watched in silence and then tapped their sticks against the ice as he was wheeled off to an ambulance on a stretcher 15 minutes later. The team said this morning that he was released from the hospital overnight after undergoing an assessment. It did not comment on the nature of his injury.

“It’s a little worrisome when you see the stretcher come out,” Maple Leafs forward Mitch Marner said Tuesday night. “We are praying for him. There are a lot bigger things than hockey.”

The incident involving Muzzin, one of only two players on the Toronto roster to have won a Stanley Cup, cast a pall over an otherwise encouraging performance by the Maple Leafs. They outshot Columbus 39-20 and dominated the contest from start to finish.

After being shut out in the first game on Sunday, they got goals from Auston Matthews, John. Tavares and Morgan Rielly.

Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe and some players are scheduled to do a news conference by video call late this afternoon.

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2020-08-05 17:37:00Z
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