Wennberg injury further depletes center spot
The Blue Jackets lost a top center to injury as their already-thin center corps took another hit.
Coach John Tortorella said Alexander Wennberg would be out “longer than day-today” after suffering an apparent “lower-body” injury on Thursday in Pittsburgh.
The Jackets already are playing without center Brandon Dubinsky after he suffered a fractured orbital bone 12 days ago in a fight against Edmonton’s Zack Kassian. Dubinsky is expected to be out at least another month.
Tortorella wouldn’t go into detail on Wennberg’s injury or give a timeline on his potential return. Wennberg left Thursday’s game with 6:17 remaining in the third period.
General manager Jarmo Kekalainen also would not give an update on Wennberg’s condition.
“He is probably out for a while,” Tortorella said.
Boone Jenner slid over from wing to play center when Dubinsky was hurt against Edmonton; Nick Foligno moved to center on Saturday after playing there earlier this season.
“Everyone becomes important; we’re missing two of our top defensemen and two of our top forwards,” Tortorella said. “Sometimes that helps your team. It’s an opportunity and can sometimes Alexander Wennberg suffered a lower-body injury against the Penguins on Thursday and will likely be out for an extended period.
galvanize your team.”
Take it back
Jenner missed the third period and overtime of Thursday’s shootout loss to the Penguins after being charged with a game misconduct for a crosschecking major penalty.
Tortorella questioned the severity of the
punishment after the game; the NHL agreed, and the game misconduct was rescinded.
Although the league ruling doesn’t change the missed time for Jenner, he now has a so-called “clean slate.” A player is suspended for a game upon gathering his third game misconduct. As of now, Jenner has none.
“The refs made a judgment call and it’s fine by me. I understood what they were trying to do,” Jenner said. “To not be able to compete in the third, that was hard to go through. But it’s over now.”
Toughness pleases Torts
Even though the Blue Jackets don’t have a designated enforcer, Tortorella said his team “handled ourselves very well” against the Penguins on Thursday, adding that Evgeni Malkin “left the game with a few bumps on his head” from fighting Foligno.
Tortorella said he addressed Lukas Sedlak’s decision to fight Pittsburgh tough guy Ryan Reaves (after Reaves took out Markus Hannikainen with a big hit) in front of the whole team before Saturday’s game.
After Thursday’s game, Tortorella said he thought Sedlak was “dumb” to take on Reaves, but gave respect. “High marks for doing it,” he said.
“I told them exactly what I told (the media) after the game,” Tortorella said Saturday. “And that certainly wasn’t an insult.”
Slap shot
Defenseman Zach Werenski missed his third consecutive game with an undisclosed injury. Tortorella declined to give an update on his condition.