New York Islanders head coach Lane Lambert admitted that he was “surprised,” by the comments made by Carolina Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind’Amour regarding Tuevo Teravainen’s broken hand suffered during Game 2.
The Carolina forward was slashed on the hand by Islanders forward Jean-Gabriel Pageau during the third period while taking a wrist shot on a power play, injuring the hand that requires surgery, and ending his season.
No penalty was called on Pageau with the Islanders already killing a penalty in a tie game with roughly 4:25 remaining in regulation.
This is the play, during the #Canes' late third period man advantage, where the injury occurs, per Brind'Amour.
J.G. Pageau is the Islander who whacks #86. pic.twitter.com/FSTHg2L39v
— Walt Ruff (@WaltRuff) April 20, 2023
“The guy absolutely tomahawk chops him. Absolutely,” Brind’Amour said of Pageau. “I know we had all the power plays, so you’re not going to make it a 5-on-3, but go take a look at the video. He’s out for the series, so there you go. They’re going to complain about all the power plays, but it’s a tomahawk chop. We just watched it. He has to have surgery tomorrow. There you go. So I’m a little pissed, I’ll be honest with you.”
Brind’Amour’s comments came after a Hurricanes 4-3 overtime win to take a 2-0 series lead. His side was awarded six power-play opportunities while the Islanders had zero and a gripe of their own after defenseman Scott Mayfield was high-sticked by Carolina forward Jordan Martinook roughly 10 seconds before Jesper Fast’s game-winning goal.
“I was surprised at his comments… that play happens probably 25 or 30 times a game,” Lambert said of Pageau’s play. “The player that was injured continued to play for the rest of their power play. [Pageau] is an honest hard player. There certainly wasn’t any intent to injure anyone.”
When asked whether or not it was upsetting to hear those comments from Brind’Amour, Lambert quickly shifted focus elsewhere.
“We’re going to move forward from there,” Lambert added. “At the end of the day, we’re going to worry about our hockey team.”
Teravainen’s loss is another significant blow to the Hurricanes, who have been without star forward Andrei Svechnikov since mid-March. In 68 games in the regular season, he recorded 12 goals and 37 points.
Game 3 of the first-round series between the Islanders and Carolina shifts back to Long Island and UBS Arena on Friday night.
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