Carolina Hurricanes: Injury Update and Post-Game Interviews

The Carolina Hurricanes remain in the playoff hunt, still just two points back from a wild card spot, but a couple of weak outings and injuries have caused some problems.

After a weak showing and loss Thursday night against the Toronto Maple Leafs, that saw both Jay McClement and Andrej Nestarsil leave the game with injuries, the Carolina Hurricanes played better at home against the Boston Bruins. Unfortunately the improved play didn’t translate to the scoreboard, which read 4-1 Boston after sixty minutes.

Here are some injury updates and takeaways from the post-game interviews, courtesy of the Carolina Hurricanes and CanesVision.

If you want to watch it, here is the full-length video of the post-game interviews.

Coach Bill Peters on Justin Faulk:

First, in case you haven’t seen it, here’s a YouTube video of the incident during the February 11th practice that caused Faulk’s injury.

Faulk didn’t dress for either the Toronto or Boston games, after playing Tuesday against the Flyers and practicing Wednesday. Peters indicated before the game last night that Faulk’s ankle hadn’t responded well to treatment so they wanted to keep him out at least another game.

In response to a question about whether Faulk would be ready to go Sunday against the visiting St. Louis Blues, Coach Peters said that would be pushing it.

"Coach Peters said the injury is a tough one to come back from, and that it’s “a nasty situation and it is day-to-day,”"

Peters went on to say, “It seems to always get tweaked and re-injured a little bit,” every time he tries to skate on it.

Coach Peters on Andrej Nestrasil:

Here is a YouTube video of the hit that Kadri landed on Nestrasil that sent him to the hospital and out for the season.

From all angles, this was a clean and fair bodycheck. It would appear from the video that how and where Nestrasil landed, directly where the ice and boards meet, was what caused the injury.

Nestrasil posted pictures and updates from his hospital bed in Toronto on Friday, thanking all the fans for the messages and good wishes, and saying that he was feeling much better than he did Thursday night. He also said that he wouldn’t hit the ice again until next season.

Coach Peters didn’t have a detailed update on Nestrasil’s status, saying that they would wait to evaluate Nestrasil when he gets back to Raleigh.

"“Until we get Nesty home and looked at by our doctors we’re really not going to know.” – Coach Peters"

Asked about whether Nestrasil was back in Raleigh or still in Canada, Peters indicated that he had been cleared to travel, but the coach wasn’t sure if that had happened yet.

Coach Peters on Jay McClement:

McClement sustained an upper-body injury during his first shift against the Maple Leafs Thursday night, and did not play last night against Boston. Coach Peters said that, “Jay Mac doesn’t feel a whole bunch better today than he did last night.” His status for the Sunday matinee game against the Blues probably won’t be revealed until just before gametime.

Overall Game Performance:

In the post-game interviews Captain Eric Staal, defenseman Ron Hainsey and Coach Peters all indicated that the Hurricanes played much better against the Bruins than they did against the Maple Leafs the night before, but just couldn’t bury their chances. The Canes had better puck possession last night, and spent more time in the offensive zone, but a couple of breakdowns, one by Michal Jordan and one by Cam Ward, got them down by two early, and they could never recover.

The team will have a full day off on Saturday, with no scheduled on ice time, and no pre-game skate before the early game on Sunday. Coach Peters is hoping this will give the guys time to rest and recuperate, and put all the pieces together against the St. Louis Blues. The Caniac faithful are hoping for the same thing.

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