Blue Jackets’ Erik Gudbranson to miss time with upper-body injury
Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Erik Gudbranson will not be in the lineup when the team takes on the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday, and could miss further time.
❌ Erik Gudbranson (lower-body) will be out vs. Tampa Bay on Tuesday. #CBJ
Not expecting a #CBJ Erik Gudbranson update today or until next week. Suffered an upper-body injury on a hit by #GoKingsGo Artemi Panarin late in the first period Monday. #CBJ want to see how Gudbranson responds over the next few days, then reevaluate after the road trip.
Gudbranson appeared to sustain the injury late in the first period of Monday’s game against the Los Angeles Kings. He was entering the corner of the Blue Jackets’ defensive zone to retrieve a dumped puck when Artemi Panarin hit him hard into the boards. Gudbranson was down for a while before getting up, angrily talking to one of the referees, and then skating to the bench and going to the dressing room. He did not return for the second period, and Columbus confirmed his absence from the game at the start of the third period.
Gudbranson left the game with two shots and one hit in 5:02 of ice time, with the Kings up 2-1 at the time of his departure.
Gudbranson has already missed 41 games this season, including 37 to a hip injury, so health has been a significant concern for him this season. When healthy, he’s struggled at both ends of the ice with one goal and two assists for three points in 20 games and a 0.026 5v5 regularized adjusted plus-minus 5v5 expected goals against per 60 minutes.
With Gudbranson out of the lineup, his defense partner, Dante Fabbro, has been rotated into the top four, generally playing with Zach Werenski and Ivan Provorov.
Jake Christiansen or Egor Zamula could draw into the lineup in Gudbranson’s place. Zamula played in Saturday’s 5-4 loss to the Utah Mammoth, only drawing out of the lineup due to the return of Dante Fabbro, and has played more than Christiansen recently, so he would appear to be the likely candidate.
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