The Bruins bounced back from Saturday's loss to the Rangers in the closing seconds of overtime with an equally dramatic 6-5 shootout victory in Philadelphia on Sunday. But the win came at a cost, with forward Nathan Horton sitting out the third period after sustaining an apparent head injury.
Horton was hurt on a high hit from Flyers forward Tom Sestito at 2:53 of the second period. Horton bounced up and picked up a minor penalty in the ensuing scrum as he went back after Sestito. Horton also played five more shifts in the second period, but was held out of the third.
"He was kept out for the obvious [reasons]," Bruins coach Claude Julien said after the game. "It was kind of a head injury. He's just being reevaluated right now. That's basically all we know and that's as far as we've gone with the evaluation."
Any potential head injury is reason for concern, but it is especially worrisome in the case of Horton. He already suffered a severe concussion last year in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final on a late hit by Vancouver defenseman Aaron Rome. Horton did not play again in the Cup Final and was limited early in training camp, but has not missed a game in the regular season this year with 17-15-32 totals in 46 games.
"I missed him out there in the third period, that's for sure," Bruins center David Krejci said. "You don't want to see a guy like that go down and get hurt. We all know what happened in the playoffs last year. I hope he's going to be fine. He's a big part of this team and we really need him on the ice."
The Bruins had two other close calls, as Steven Kampfer left the game briefly in the first period after being leveled with a hit by Brayden Schenn. Chris Kelly immediately fought Schenn, but later in the game was flattened himself when Scott Hartnell hit him high in front of the Bruins net. That brought in Shawn Thornton in response in another brief scrap.
Kampfer, playing his first game in over a month in place of suspended defenseman Andrew Ference, returned in the second period and finished with six shifts for 3:15. Kelly also finished the game.
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