The Toronto Maple Leafs lost defenseman Chris Tanev early in the second period of Tuesday night’s contest against the New Jersey Devils.
The loss wasn’t bad enough. The Leafs had to lose a key blueliner on top of everything. In fact, we could argue that the game got away from the Leafs as soon as Tanev departed.
The game was 1-1 when Tanev collided with the Devils’ Dawson Mercer in front of the Toronto net. The play didn’t seem sufficiently violent to warrant a major injury. But it seems that Tanev took the brunt of Mercer’s shoulder to the head.