Carolina’s Jack Drury out of Hurricanes-Islanders Game 4 with upper-body injury
The Carolina Hurricanes sustained yet another injury to their forward group when Jack Drury left Game 4 of the team’s series with the New York Islanders hurt.
Drury was run into the boards during an awkward collision with Islanders’ defenseman Ryan Pulock and exited the contest with an upper-body injury.
Jack Drury will not return to today’s game due to an upper-body injury.
— Hurricanes PR (@CanesPR) April 23, 2023Pulock received a minor penalty after a review, and on the ensuing 5-on-3 Hurricanes’ power play, Seth Jarvis put the visitors ahead.
The 23-year-old was not a full-time player for the Canes this year, splitting time between the NHL club and AHL Chicago Wolves. In 38 NHL games, Drury scored 2 goals and 8 points.
Drury began the contest on a line with Carolina star Sebastian Aho and Seth Jarvis as well as the second power-play unit. The 2018 second-round pick was filling those roles for an already injury-hit Hurricanes outfit that lost Andrei Svechnikov for the season in March and Teuvo Teravainen to a broken hand in Game 2.
If Drury has a head injury, coach Rod Brind’Amour will again be forced to shuffle his forward lines and may even need to play seven defensemen.
The Hurricanes have struggled with injuries to their forwards all season. In addition to the losses of Teravainen and Svechnikov, Max Pacioretty and Ondrej Kase have only managed cameo roles this season due to injury.
If Carolina can claim a rare road playoff victory in Game 4, they can focus on closing out the Islanders in Raleigh during Game 5. They would hope to recuperate before a second-round matchup with the New York Rangers or New Jersey Devils.
The Hurricanes are up 3-0 after two periods and on the brink of putting a stranglehold on the series.