Sens Lose Spezza and Heatley to Injuries
January 14, 2008 by Jeanne Dupuis
Filed under Injuries, News, Ottawa Senators, Players
On Saturday night, when the Ottawa Senators played the Detroit Red Wings, Dany Heatley suffered a separated shoulder and is expected to miss up to 6 weeks. He got hurt after he crashed into end boards with Detroit forward Dallas Drake during the second period.
"You take a 50-goal man out of your lineup, other guys have to step up and score," linemate Jason Spezza said. "Everybody has to kind of pick up a little bit of the slack. Every team goes through injuries, and we’re going to have to do the same thing. We’ll just have to deal with it."
Ironically, Spezza may as well have been talking about himself.
In today’s game (the first one without Heatley) against the New York Islanders. Spezza left in the first period after absorbing an open-ice hit from defenceman Freddy Meyer. He had just received a pass from teammate Wade Redden when he got hit. "I put him in a bad spot," Redden said.
A team spokesman said Spezza was held out for "precautionary measures," though the nature of his injury was not specified.
"Jason wasn’t expecting the puck," said Paddock, who hadn’t spoken to the team’s medical staff after the first period. "It was a terrible pass."
Hopefully, at least one of the Sens’ star players will both be back on the ice soon – I’m sure they will be missed.
