Toronto Maple Leafs forward Mitch Marner was narrowly able to avoid what could have been a gruesome and perhaps even career threatening injury during last night’s game at Scotiabank Arena against the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets.
Blue Jackets forward Kent Johnson inadvertently stepped on Marner’s leg after the latter had stumbled along the boards; Marner immediately reacted in understandable pain, but thankfully, was eventually no worse for wear. As Marner would explain afterward, while he was wearing protective socks on his wrists, he wasn’t doing so on his lower body.
“Right away it just felt weird. I didn’t know, really, what it was … when I got back I just asked our trainers if there was a cut or anything … pretty lucky, but definitely a freak, little incident there,” Marner explained.
“I got the cut-proof stuff on my wrists, but not on my legs. Maybe I was lucky that he just wasn’t a heavy guy. You know, it was a bit freak play there, but lucky enough nothing came out of it.”
We’ve seen some frightening injuries in recent years, including the scary incident in which Evander Kane was accidentally sliced by the skate of Pat Maroon earlier this season, causing him to miss several months.