It was a bad night for the Florida Panthers all the way around on Monday against the Thrashers. Not only did they lose 4-3 to drop to 10-12-4, but they also saw their goalie get injured by his own teammate. With the game tied 1-1, Ilya Kovalchuk skated in for a goal to put Atlanta up 2-1. Defenseman Keith Ballard was not happy about the goal going through and expressed his displeasure by whirling his stick at the goal post. Unfortunately his stick happened to meet goalie Tomas Vokoun’s head before it connected with the post. Vokoun ended up being taken off the ice on a stretcher after a delay that lasted several minutes. Check out the video of Tomas Vokoun getting hit by Keith Ballard:
Here I was thinking those goalie masks were impenetrable. Little did I know. Honestly, I’m still wondering how he got hurt and how the mask didn’t stop it. It was feared that Vokoun may have a concussion:
General manager Randy Sexton said after the game that Vokoun only sustained a lacerated left ear that needed stitches. Vokoun was expected to be transported from St. Joseph’s Hospital on the north side of town to the airport to meet the team for its charter flight back to Fort Lauderdale. It’s not known how long Vokoun will be out.
Better hope Ballard does something to make up for his slash of Vokoun because that was a pretty dumb play. Maybe he’s learned to curb his rage now.
