The Sharks announced Ian White will be officially unavailable for game two tonight after sustaining an upper body injury caused by a blindside hit to the head by Kings forward Jarret Stoll in the first period of game one.
The NHL suspended Stoll following the incident.
White put to rest the fears of a severe concussion this morning, stating that he hopes to be healthy enough to play in game three on Tuesday in Los Angeles.
“I don’t have blinding headaches or anything. Something just feels a little off and you need to give it time to heal,” White said. “It’s fortunate that it’s not going to knock me out for the rest of the postseason. Hopefully I’ll just miss this one game.”
Replacing White will either be rookie defenseman Justin Braun or veteran defenseman Kent Huskins. Huskins has been out of the lineup with an undisclosed injury since February 22nd but it appears he is healthy enough to warrant consideration to play. Braun is a good puck-moving defenseman who has improved immensely in his defensive end as the season has gone along, making him this author’s likely candidate to replace White.
McLellan didn’t show his hand this morning as to who he would dress. The announcement will come closer to game time, a typical ploy by Head Coaches to give opposing team’s less time to formulate their game plan.