Brandon Carlo isn’t out of the woods just yet.
The Bruins defenseman found himself on the wrong end of a dirty hit from Evgenii Dadonov during the second period of Boston’s exciting 2-1 overtime win against the Florida Panthers on Thursday night.
Carlo was behind the Panthers forward as they approached a loose puck in the corner in the second period. Dadonov looked over his shoulder and planted an ugly (and dangerous) elbow into the face of the Bruins D-man. Carlo remained down, visibly shaken up, before skating off the ice with some help.
He did not return to the game with what the B’s called an upper-body injury.
After the game, head coach Bruce Cassidy provided an update on Carlo.
“At the end of the day Brandon did not return,” he told NESN’s Jack Edwards and Andy Brickley after the game. “He’s got an upper-body injury. We’ll have a better idea (Friday).”
The call originally was ruled a minor penalty before the officials changed it to a five-minute major. But a review swapped it back to a minor.
“I could have seen the call go either way,” Cassidy told Edwards and Brickley. “Obviously I was hoping for a five. He’s out of the game, he’s out of the game for good. He’s bloodied up a little bit. I don’t know if it’s intent or not but it doesn’t matter necessarily. You see that with high sticks all the time. You’re supposed to be in control of those situations, especially around the head. I would have liked to have seen the five but at the end of the day we got the two (points) and that’s the way it goes.”
Now the Bruins wait and hope for some good news on Carlo, who’s been one of the best defenseman on the team this season.
