During the Jets contest against the Bruins Friday night, centre Bryan Little was injured 23 seconds in to the 3rd period when he was hit point blank with a shot from Bruins centre Carl Soderbeg.
#NHLJets say Bryan Little won’t return to tonight’s game vs #Bruins
— Ken Wiebe (@WiebeSunSports) November 29, 2014
Little appeared to be in significant pain and needed the assistance of his teammates to get off the ice.
Bryan Little leaves ice with serious support from his team after blocking point-blank shot. http://t.co/f6WxxSLPKK pic.twitter.com/yb2q6OBSMC
— theScore (@theScore) November 29, 2014
If Bryan Little is out long term, the Jets are in trouble. Little is the Jets' number one centre and one of the teams best penalty kill players. Since being reunited with line mates Andrew Ladd and Blake Wheeler on the teams top line, Little has scored 4 points in his last 4 games. He currently is the Jets 3rd leading scorer.
Coach Paul Maurice did stress optimism regarding Little's injury
#NHLJets HC Paul Maurice didn’t have much of an update on Bryan Little, hopeful he will be ready to play Wednesday vs #Oilers
— Ken Wiebe (@WiebeSunSports) November 29, 2014
If Little is out long term, there would be a need for some serious line juggling. This is especially unfortunate since they seemingly just got there top three lines rolling offensively.
Potential Lines:
Evander Kane – Mark Scheifele – Michael Frolik
Andrew Ladd – Mathieu Perreault – Blake Wheeler
Matt Halischuk – Adam Lowry – Dustin Byfuglien
Chris Thorburn -Jim Slater – Anthony Peluso
With Little out, Mark Scheifele will have to step into a big role on the teams top line. Matthieu Perreault and Adam Lowry will serve a big role on the teams second and third line respectively. If Perreault is also hurt, that opens up a whole new can of worms.
What lines do you expect to see on Wednesday if Little can't play? How about if MP is out too? Who takes the tough matchups?
Get well soon, Bryan.
