Oilers’ Nurse: ‘Pretty obvious’ Maple Leafs’ Reaves was targeting his head on hit
Darnell Nurse doesn’t sound like he’s ready to accept Ryan Reaves’ apology for a controversial hit. The Oilers defenceman believes the Leafs tough guy was aiming for his head on Saturday.
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EDMONTON — Darnell Nurse has been around the game long enough to know: When you get lit up the way he did by Ryan Reaves in Toronto, there is a certain amount of blame you have to own.
But only so much.
“There’s an onus on me to be aware of where everyone is,” he admitted, unsure “if I was aware enough.
“But there’s also an onus on the person that’s throwing the hit to hit the body,” Nurse said . “It’s one thing if my head is between my knees, but I was in a skating posture. (Reaves is) elevating at that point to hit someone in the head.”
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Nurse stands six-foot-four and was skating fairly upright as he circled the Oilers net Saturday. There is a reason he’s never had a head injury before.
“Even if you put yourself in a bad spot, there is lots of body on a six-foot-four hockey player to hit,” he said. “Not one piece was touched, other than my head.
“You can argue about the intent,” he added. “But there are certain guys in the league that — every shift they go out there — they go out to try and inflict pain. I think it’s pretty obvious what’s going on there.”
Reaves sought out Nurse in the bowels of Scotiabank Arena to apologize post-game.
“Does that matter to you?” Nurse was asked.
“Not really,” was his reply.
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The Oilers are in the throes of an injury skein these days, missing Nurse, plus right-wingers Zach Hyman and Viktor Arvidsson to undisclosed injuries. Head coach Kris Knoblauch said on Thursday that Hyman is out four-to-seven days, and with a five-day break after hosting the Rangers on Saturday, Arvidsson will not play this week either.
Nurse was unsure of his return date, after practising with the team at the morning skate prior to Thursday’s date with the Minnesota Wild.
“I feel good,” Nurse said. “With these things (concussions), the timeline is up to multiple people. So what I feel sometimes isn’t indicative of what’s going to happen.
“I haven’t looked too far ahead. If I’m feeling good, I always want to be out there.”
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Nurse was sporting a right eye with blood visible on his eyeball, and a dark stain underneath from the hit. The eye was wide open however, and he looked none the worse for wear at practice.
He’s played 658 games and endured more than his share of hard hits and fisticuffs. But he’s never gone through something like the Reaves hit before.
“A head injury? No, never,” Nurse said. “But I’ve been injured before. You’ve got to take care of your body and your brain, to the best (of) your capability.”
Reaves received a five-game suspension for the hit. If Nurse plays on the Oilers road trip that opens next Friday in Utah, he will have missed four games, plus the final 37 minutes in Toronto.
The injury comes at a time when Nurse had truly found his game, playing some of his best — and most consistent — hockey in months.
“Frustration is what you make of the situation,” he said. “You can be frustrated about it, but for me, it’s an injury and it’s part of the job. Things are going to happen, sometimes you’re going to get injured, and you have to do whatever you can to get back to 100 per cent, get out there and be as effective as you can be.
“However long it takes, I’ll just come back and build off the momentum that I had built before.”
