Nashville Predators narrowly avoid another injury to key player
Cody Glass explains what happened on Tuesday that could have been much worse.
The Nashville Predators put up an impressive performance on Tuesday against the Buffalo Sabres, but there was a scary moment in the game that could have curbed everyone's enthusiasm significantly.
Late in the 1st period, Cody Glass took a hard hit from Sabres' forward Tage Thompson, and was down on the ice in obvious pain for a while.
A muted celebration on the ensuing Matt Duchene goal was followed by a concern over Glass's condition. He had to helped off the ice and went to the locker room immediately.
On Thursday, with the team back in town to play two games against the Seattle Kraken, Cody Glass addressed what happened and clarified his current status.
"Usually I don't see myself in that position," Glass said about the play. "I didn't see him, I was looking this way and he kind of came through this way. His shoulder went through my face, but my head hit the glass."
Glass then explained that while he was definitely hurt on the play, the real reason he had to leave the game was because of the concussion spotter.
"I was obviously shaken out quite a bit, but I got off and then the spotter told me I had to do concussion protocol. So I had to go through concussion protocol. It was fine, and I feel good today."
When Glass left the ice, he talked with one of the Predators' team trainers as well as the in house team doctor in Buffalo. The testing is quick, and also mandated by the NHL, which started requiring concussion spotters in games back in 2011.
The tests involve a number of spatial, memory, and motor coordination checks that are compared against a baseline set by the player at the beginning of the year. Glass went through the tests quickly and was cleared immediately to return.
Since the injury happened at the end of period, he didn't even miss a shift, returning at around the 18 minute mark of the 2nd period.
"When you're in that moment, you just want to make sure first that you're ok," Glass said. "Obviously, I want to keep playing, I just want to be out there. I've missed a lot of hockey before, so I wanted to go, but you have to take care of that first. Our guys did a good job of helping me. I was shaken up at the start of it, for sure, but I think once it kind of calmed down and I got away from everything and then came back out on the ice, I was good."
Glass also added that it was more frustrating to him that he didn't score on the play, more so than the potential head injury.
"I had that breakaway, and I kind of just flicked it up. I should have scored… I think I'm more rattled about that honestly."
For the Predators, it is first and foremost good news that Glass was not injured on the play. If he had been, he would be added to a growing list of players who are either "day to day" or "week to week" with various ailments.
Currently, the Preds are missing Roman Josi (unknown; day to day), Filip Forsberg (likely concussion; unknown timetable), Alex Carrier (arm/shoulder; 4 to 6 six weeks), Juuso Parssinen (unknown injury; unknown timetable), Ryan Johansen (foot; 12 weeks), and Mark Borowiecki (likely concussion; unknown timetable).
The Preds managed to blowout the Sabres 7-3 in that game, thanks mostly to a stellar performance by Luke Evangelista, who finished with four points. But perhaps the biggest news was the team escaping what looked like a dangerous situation late in the 1st period without any more names to add to the injury list.
— Featured image via Timothy Ludwig/USA TODAY Sports —
