Hurricanes’ Jesper Fast leaves game vs. Maple Leafs with upper-body injury, will not return

Carolina Hurricanes’ forward Jesper Fast left Saturday’s game vs. the Toronto Maple Leafs after taking a hit from forward Noah Gregor. The Hurricanes would later announce on social media that Fast suffered an upper-body injury and would not return to the game.

The incident occurred in the first period after Fast, 32, took a hit from Gregor in the Hurricanes’ zone. Fast struggled to get off the ice following the hit, and ended up going into concussion protocol.

Through 36 games in the 2023-24 regular season, Fast has four goals and seven assists for 11 points. In four seasons with the Hurricanes, Fast has 34 goals and 59 assists for 93 points in 244 games.

Now in his 11th season, Fast has 89 goals, 151 assists for 240 points in 666 games with the Hurricanes and the New York Rangers. He scored a career-high 34 points with the Hurricanes in the 2021-22 season, scoring 14 goals and 20 assists.

At the end of two periods, the Hurricanes were leading the Maple Leafs by a score of 2-0. Going into the game, the Hurricanes had a 19-13-4 record with 42 points, good for fourth in the Eastern Conference’s Metropolitan Division.

Carolina won two straight, having beaten the Nashville Predators 5-2 last Wednesday and the Montreal Canadiens 5-3 last Thursday.

The Maple Leafs went into Saturday’s game with a 17-9-7 record and 41 points, good for third in the Atlantic Division. They had lost two straight, including a 4-2 defeat by the Ottawa Senators last Wednesday and a 6-5 overtime loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday night.