Alex Tanguay heads straight to the locker room with a jaw injury after getting hit by an Alex Ovechkin shot in the second period Thursday in Denver. (Andy Cross, The Denver Post)
The Avalanche were without Alex Tanguay in the third period Thursday, just as the for the winner in a 3-2 victory at Colorado.
Tanguay blocked an Ovechkin shot in the second period with his face and left the game with a jaw injury. :
Tanguay, in pain, immediately grabbed his face and skated off the ice. Washington play-by-play announcer Joe Beninati reported that Tanguay left for the hospital.
Colorado coach Patrick Roy said Tanguay for now is day-to-day proposition.
“I haven’t seen him yet,” Roy said. “But like everyone I saw he got a puck on the jaw. We’ll know more, I guess, tomorrow.”
Tanguay, for his part, kept Ovechkin from scoring in the second. But with Tanguay on the ice, the Avs couldn’t stop the Caps captain in the third. His two-time effort off the back boards beat Reto Berra for the game-winner with six minutes left.
Roy said he thought the Avs’ defense was “outstanding” despite the loss. :
Roy also said he’d like the Avs to (he’s said this a few times this season) and he’d like them to shorten their shifts, especially in the second period:
And for good measure, how he thought he’d get sent to the minors his rookie NHL season when Marc Crawford called him into his office:
