BOSTON — Nathan Horton will miss the rest of the Stanley Cup Finals with a severe concussion, and Vancouver Canucks defenseman Aaron Rome also is finished after the NHL suspended him for four games Tuesday for his late hit on the Boston Bruins forward during Game 3.
Horton had just passed the puck in the first period Monday night when Rome turned his shoulder and left his skates to flatten him. Horton, the right wing on Boston’s top line who is second in the NHL postseason with a plus-11 rating, apparently was knocked unconscious, hitting his head on the ice and staying down for several minutes before medical personnel took him away on a stretcher.
The Bruins saw it as a blindside hit — the type of blow the league has tried to eliminate in the past year with Rule 48 after several players suffered severe concussions in recent seasons.
The Canucks vehemently disagreed Tuesday, uniformly claiming it was a legal blow to Horton’s chest, only perhaps an instant late.
“We disagree with the decision, and it was a clean hit,” Vancouver captain Henrik Sedin said. “Talking to Aaron was extremely emotional. When you get to this point in the playoffs, you want to be a part of it on the ice, and ‘Romer’ didn’t deserve what he got.”
Mike Murphy, the NHL’s senior vice president of hockey operations, agreed the hit would have been legal if it hadn’t been late. But given its timing and Horton’s subsequent injury, the NHL determined Rome would miss the rest of the series.
“I thought it was a late hit,” Murphy said. “I thought that the body was contacted, but I also thought that the head was hit. It caused a serious injury to Nathan Horton. . . . This has nothing to do with Rule 48. This is just an interference penalty, an interference hit. If it was immediate after he released the puck, it would be a legal hit. We have them all the time.”
If the Stanley Cup is awarded before Game 7, the NHL said Rome’s suspension will carry over to the start of next season.
Rome did not attend Tuesday’s practice but issued a statement saying: “I try to play this game honestly and with integrity. As someone who has experienced this type of injury, I am well aware of its serious nature and have no desire for another player to experience it.”
Rookie Tyler Seguin, a healthy scratch Monday night, is a candidate to replace Horton in tonight’s Game 4.
Horton has eight goals and nine assists in the playoffs, and he’s already become the first player in NHL history to score a game-winning goal in a Game 7 twice in the same postseason.
The Canucks likely will turn to veteran Keith Ballard to fill in for Rome, who has one goal in the postseason.
