Morgan Rielly Exits Early With Lower-Body Injury As Leafs Panic Meter Spikes
Chris Johnston reported: 'Morgan Rielly is done for the night due to a lower-body injury.'
The are currently losing 2-0 to the Montreal , is annoying for their fans, but the real disaster just walked down the tunnel.
NHL insider Chris Johnston reported that defenseman is officially done for the night with a lower-body injury.
Taking off the blue line is like taking the engine out of a 2006 Honda Civic and expecting it to still merge on the highway. He is the load-bearing wall of this entire defensive structure.
is the undisputed ice-time leader for the Leafs and the primary distributor on their top powerplay unit. When he goes down, the rest of the rotation gets stretched thinner than single-ply toilet paper.
This is not exactly a new terrifying experience for . has a documented history of lower-body issues, including a knee injury that previously landed him on long-term injured reserve and a separate lower-body concern that cost him games just last March.
Anyone holding a shot prop or powerplay point ticket for tonight can go ahead and use it as a coaster. The live betting markets for this game are already adjusting to a team trying to mount a comeback without their best puck-mover.
The timing could not possibly be worse. has zero time to figure out a contingency plan because they host the tomorrow night on the second half of a back-to-back.
If is out for any real stretch, the Leafs are going to have to survive a brutal upcoming schedule with a defense held together by duct tape and blind hope. We will see what the medical staff says tomorrow, but right now, the panic in is entirely justified.