Ducks center scores game-winner, crashes knee-first into post in scary injury moment
Photo credit: IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Ryan Poehling scored a short-handed winner for the Ducks, then left with a knee injury after hitting the post. Here's what we know so far about his status.
The Anaheim Ducks got a huge road win in Calgary on Saturday, but it came with a scary moment.
Ryan Poehling scored the go-ahead short-handed goal in a 4-2 victory over the Flames, then went down hard and never came back.
The goal came at 5:35 of the third period with the game tied 2-2.
Poehling pounced on a Calgary turnover and slid a shot past Dustin Wolf on the rush.
As he shot, Flames defenseman Zayne Parekh slid into him, and Poehling lost his footing and crashed into the net, with his knee slamming off the post.
He stayed down for a while before being helped to the dressing room.
What the replay showed
His right knee appeared to bend the wrong way when it hit the post, the kind of moment that makes you hold your breath.
One early take by a sports doctor on X calls it a hyperextension and guesses at a bone bruise with a day-to-day to week-to-week timeline.
The same post says hyperextensions can damage the ACL or PCL, but doesn't think this play was that severe.
That's one opinion, not a diagnosis.
What it means for the Ducks
Poehling finished with a goal and an assist, his first points through five games this season.
Anaheim improved to 4-1, while Calgary fell to 0-5, the worst start in franchise history.
Ducks head coach Joel Quenneville hasn't given an update yet, and one is expected before Tuesday's rematch in Anaheim.
Cutter Gauthier also left Saturday's game with an upper-body injury.
Poehling has been through plenty already.
He suffered a concussion on a Brayden McNabb hit in the playoffs last spring, and he was day-to-day with a lower-body injury at the start of training camp.
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