NEW YORK – Clarke MacArthur’s latest injury layoff shouldn’t end up lasting more than a couple periods.
The hockey world can breathe a sigh of relief after the Ottawa Senators winger revealed he was knocked out of Saturday’s game with a pinched nerve in his left shoulder and neck region – not something pertaining to the concussion issues that once threatened his career.
MacArthur wasn’t feeling 100 per cent at puck drop against the New York Rangers in Game 2 and it only got worse after he took a big open-ice hit from Ryan McDonagh late in the first period.
“That’s where it seized up again,” MacArthur said Monday after practice. “It was near the end of the first and then after sitting for the 20 minutes between periods I went out there and my whole left side felt [off]. By the second shift, I remember passing it to [Erik Karlsson], and trying to take a couple strides and I’m like ‘No, I better get out of here.’ I couldn’t feel my left leg hardly, but all good now.
“I literally had a pinched nerve. They released it and I was like instantly better. Instant.”
That was welcome news for a Senators team that was feeling fortunate to hold a 2-0 series lead over the Rangers heading into Game 3 on Tuesday.
They’ll have a full complement of forwards available at Madison Square Garden.
There was natural concern after MacArthur was unable to play beyond the early stages of the second period in Saturday’s 6-5 double-overtime win. He suffered four documented concussions in 18 months and returned to the Senators lineup on April 4 after missing nearly two full seasons because of those injuries.
His phone blew up when he pulled himself from the game.
“As annoying as it is for them, me too: ‘Is it your head? Is it your head? Is it your head?”’ MacArthur said of the texts he received. “The whole time I’m thinking everyone thinks it’s my head right now, and it’s nothing to do with that.”
After he left, the game stretched another 57 minutes before Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored in double-overtime. It was tough for him to watch on television, with the Rangers holding three different two-goal leads before Ottawa rallied late.
“We were bad and they were bad,” said MacArthur. “It was just one of those games. We got lucky.”
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