NHL-Sabres goalie Miller out indefinitely with concussion
Buffalo Sabres goalie Ryan Miller is out
indefinitely with a concussion he suffered during a weekend
game when he was leveled by Boston Bruins forward Milan Lucic,
the National Hockey League (NHL) team said on Monday.
The former All-Star and Vezina Trophy winner as the NHL’s
top goalie left his crease in the first period of Saturday’s
game to deny Lucic a breakaway chance. Lucic’s hit sent
Miller’s mask flying and knocked the goalie to the ice.
“(We are) not sure how long he will be out,” Sabres
spokesman Michael Gilbert told Reuters. “Not playing tonight.”
Lucic, who was assessed a minor penalty for charging on the
play, will have a hearing with the NHL on Monday to discuss the
incident and Sabres General Manager Darcy Regier has called on
the league to suspend Lucic for the first-period hit.
“If this hit and other types of hits like this are not
suspended, we are opening up the possibility of losing
goaltenders to injury. And not just injury, but concussion,”
Regier told the Buffalo News.
Miller, 31, allowed three goals in two periods and did not
return for the final period because of what the team originally
described as a neck injury.
“Fifty pounds on me and he runs me like that?” Miller told
reporters after the game. “That was gutless. Gutless.”
For Miller, who led the United States to a silver medal in
the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, it was his second concussion in
eight months. He missed time last season after being struck in
the head by a shot from New Jersey’s Brian Rolston in March.