Cue the hysteria.
According to Nick Kypreos (@RealKyper), Ottawa’s number one goaltender, Craig Anderson, has suffered a cut on his hand as the result of some at home accident.
There has been no confirmation as to the extent of the injury or the length of time in which Anderson could be on the sidelines, however, that won’t stop fans from collectively losing their shit.
As I write this, Bruce Garrioch has chimed in by confirming the initial report and tweeting that Craig Anderson will be gone at least 10 days and possibly more.
The Team 1200’s Steve Lloyd has chimed in by tweeting that the Senators have announced that Anderson suffered a cut to his blocker hand while preparing a meal last night.
Fantastic.
As much as I would like to be tepidly optimistic and be thankful that the injury wasn’t to his glove hand – a hand that requires more dexterity – the risk of something like a staph infection will likely keep him out of action for longer than we could hope for.
With Anderson out, expect Robin Lehner to be recalled from Binghamton. The young Swedish goaltender has endured his share of injuries and inconsistencies this season in Binghamton. I do not want to place too much emphasis on his AHL numbers — an 8-16-1 record, a 3.38 GAA and a save percentage of .905 — because he has played behind the worst team in the AHL this season.
I suppose it’s worth remembering that Lehner wasn’t the man in Binghamton last year until the organization turned to him after Barry Brust led the team to a 3-1 quarterfinals series deficitit. The rest is history.
Hopefully he can step up to the occasion here. With a seven point cushion on the ninth place Jets, even if Ottawa goes .500 in their 20 remaining games, Winnipeg would need to win at least 14 of their remaining 20 to surpass the Senators.
I suppose if I’m to taking a positive out of this, barring some epic collapse by Ottawa, they are well positioned to make the postseason and this injury will provide Craig Anderson with an opportunity to rest. Having played in an exorbitant amount of games of late, he hopefully will have enough time to heal and be fresh for the postseason.
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