Hab takes slap shot to head
Canadiens center Phillip Danault was awake and moving after taking Zdeno Chara’s slap shot to the head. Considering how hard Chara can shoot, many at the silent Bell Centre feared it might have been much worse.
Danault was hospitalized after a frightening play in Montreal’s 4-3 loss to the Boston Bruins on Saturday night, a game that ended with Brad Marchand’s goal in the fourth round of a shootout.
Danault was taken off the ice on a stretcher after he was hit in the head by Chara’s shot — the 6-foot-9 defenseman didn’t wind up fully for the one-timer. The 24-year-old Danault was moving and speaking to medical staff before he departed to an ovation from the Bell Centre crowd.
Canadiens coach Claude Julien said after the game that Danault would remain in a hospital overnight and would be reevaluated Sunday.
“You never want to see that,” Julien said. “Regardless if it’s your own team or the other team, no one wants to see injuries like that.
“They always make you worry. The players are still worried about him, but the reports are good so far.”
Chara and other players from both teams gathered around Danault while he was down. As Danault was leaving the ice, Chara went over and said something to him.
“I wanted to make sure he was OK,” Chara said. “He was talking to me and responding so that made me feel better that he’s OK and he’s not in a condition where he’s not responding. So I was glad that he was doing OK.”
Officials opted to play the final 1:37 of the second after intermission.
Marchand also scored in regulation, helping the Bruins improve to 9-0-3 in their last 12 games. Jake DeBrusk and David Krejci had the other goals for Boston, and Tuukka Rask made 27 saves.
l Evgeni Malkin had two goals and two assists, and the host Penguins beat the Red Wings, 4-1, for their third consecutive victory.
Phil Kessel added a goal and two assists for Pittsburgh, which had dropped its last three games against Detroit. Sidney Crosby had a goal and an assist, and rookie Tristan Jarry stopped 29 shots in his third straight start while Matt Murray is home in Canada tending to a personal family matter. The Penguins have won four of five after dropping seven of their previous 10. Their three-game win streak is their longest since they won four in a row from late November into December.
Julius Randle’s rebound and late putback sealed a 107-101 overtime victory for the visiting Lakers against the Mavericks.
With his team leading 104-101, Randle grabbed a rebound on Lonzo Ball’s missed jump shot and scored on the rebound with 18.3 seconds remaining, giving the Lakers a five-point lead they needed to extend a season-best four-game win streak. The Lakers (15-27) trailed by double digits in the fourth quarter, but battled back for their first win against the Mavericks in 15 tries and their first win in Dallas since Feb. 24, 2013.
Randle, a Dallas native, had 23 points and 15 rebounds. Jordan Clarkson added 19 points, Kyle Kuzma had 18, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 17. Mavericks rookie Dennis Smith Jr. had 23 points as the Mavericks (15-29) had a two-game win streak snapped.
The Wood Memorial purse could increase to $1 million as part of a bonus created to entice the top 3-year-olds to run in the Kentucky Derby prep on April 7.
New York Racing Association officials said Saturday that the presence of any horse in the field with a previous Grade 1 or Group 1 victory would increase the purse from $750,000 to $1 million if the qualifying horse starts. In that case, the winner would receive $590,000, the runner-up would earn $190,000 and third would be worth $90,000. The Wood is run at 1 1/8 miles at Aqueduct. The race is part of the Road to the Kentucky Derby prep series that awards 100 points to the winner, 40 to second, 20 to third and 10 to fourth.