Pittsburgh Penguins star winger James Neal left Friday's shootout win over the New York Rangers with what appears to be, at the very least, a head injury suffered from a Michael Del Zotto elbow to the chin.
James Neal injury: Del Zotto “braced himself” during big hit
The New York Rangers defenseman says he’s unclear of exactly what happened on the play that left James Neal dazed on the ice.
Justin K. Aller
On the play, Del Zotto and Neal with both racing for the puck with the Penguins on the forecheck. Both players arrived at the puck at the same time and as Del Zotto appeared to brace himself for a big hit, Neal attempted to side step his way around a possible hit.
This resulted in an hard elbow from Del Zotto’s right arm as it flailed backward, colliding with Neal’s chin. After the game, Del Zotto says he was bracing himself for a hit and doesn’t know what really happened next.
“I think they just dumped (the puck) in, and I knew I was going to get hit on the forecheck,” Del Zotto said. “I just tried to kind of reverse hit and brace myself. I’m not sure exactly what happened.”
You can see video of the hit below:
Del Zotto tells Andrew Gross of the NJ Record that he has not yet heard from the NHL about any possible disciplinary action from the league.
There was no update on Neal’s status after the game.
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