No hard feelings? Not a chance.
There was no forgiving and forgetting on offer by Darnell Nurse, who took a devastating hit to the head from Toronto Maple Leafs forward Ryan Reaves in a game Saturday.
But the important thing is there was no forgetting on the part of the injured Oilers defenceman.
Nurse remembers all too well being blindsided by Reaves while attempting to play a puck that rolled in behind the net.
Reaves, a known repeat offender, received a match penalty and would go on to get suspended for the fourth time in his career.
“He came after and apologized,” Nurse said after getting back out on the ice with his team for the first time Thursday morning. “In situations like that, there’s definitely an onus on the player with the puck to be aware where everyone else is on the ice, for sure.
“With that said, even if you put yourself in a bad spot, there is lots of body on a 6-foot-4 hockey player to hit and not one piece was touched other than my head.”
And the first thing that made contact was Reaves’ shoulder.
“You can argue about the intent, but there are certain guys in the league that every shift they go out there and they go out and try to inflict pain,” Nurse said. “I think it’s pretty obvious what’s going on there.”
He didn’t say it, but he didn’t have to. The video evidence shows this particular offender was out for blood. And blood he got. Nurse received a cut and a swollen eye, which was still black when he addressed the media Thursday.
For the record, Nurse said Reaves’ attempt to reach out after the hit didn’t really make a difference in how he feels about the whole situation.
It was the first time Nurse suffered an injury of this kind.
“A head injury? Never (before), but I’ve been injured before and there’s lots to take and you have to take care of your body and your brain to the best of your capabilities,” he said. “I’m doing everything I can to get back on track.”
Railroaded in a span where he earned seven points (two goals, five assists) in the previous eight games, Nurse is trying to focus on what’s been going right, and not how it went wrong.
“Frustration is what you make of the situation,” he said. “Any situation that you’re in you can be frustrated about it, but for me, it’s an injury, and it’s part of the job. You’re going to go out there and things are going to happen and sometimes you’re going to get injured and you have to do whatever you can to get back to 100 per cent and get out there and be as effective as you can be.
“For me, for however long it takes, just come back and build off the momentum that I had built before.”
The good news is, Nurse isn’t expected to be out for long.
“I feel good,” he said. “With these things, the timeline is up to multiple people so what I feel sometimes isn’t indicative of what’s going to happen, so we’ll see.
“I’m just going to take it a day at a time, I haven’t looked too far ahead. If I’m feeling good, I always want to be out there so we’ll see how it goes.”
As good as it was for the Oilers to have him back skating with the team, Nurse’s recovery coincides with a pair of absences already being felt in Edmonton’s top six, with both Viktor Arvidsson and Zach Hyman listed as day-to-day with undisclosed injuries.
“He’s day-to-day, possibility (of playing) on Saturday. And if not Saturday, then I’d assume the next game after that,” Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said, adding head injuries come with their own requirements. “Absolutely there’s caution, but he still has to go through the protocol: How long it’s going to take and the amount of times he has to have a light workout, a light skate, practise and then be able to be ready for the game.
“Right now, things are moving along nicely if he is ready for Saturday, and if not we will postpone that.”
It could mean an extra break for Nurse, given there is a five-day break between games after Saturday.
E-mail: [email protected]
On Twitter: @GerryModdejonge
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