MONTREAL -- The Bell Centre faithful here have long held a reputation for being among the most knowledgable fans in the game. But it didn't take a doctor, just basic knowledge of human bodily function, to realize Justin Schultz was in serious trouble Saturday night.
At 7:43 of the first period in the Penguins' 4-3 shootout loss to the Canadiens, Justin Schultz got a stick blade lodged in his skates, had his left leg collapse under him, then writhed in pain as a hush fell over the capacity crowd of 21,302:
It didn't look good, and it apparently didn't sound good.
Standing in his goal crease, Casey DeSmith was the closest to Schultz, and he picked up Schultz's voice before he saw anything.
"I just heard him yell," DeSmith recalled. "Obviously, I don't know what happened yet. But I wish him the best. You never like to see a guy get hurt like that."
Schultz had just absorbed what appeared to be a rather innocuous check from Montreal center Tomas Plekanec in the left corner behind his own net. But Schultz's left skate appeared to get stuck in the ice as his left foot turned in a way that it just wasn't meant to.
He immediately waved for the athletic trainer, and Chris Stewart rushed to the ice, joined by the team's traveling physician, Dr. Dharmesh Vyas, after which he needed the help of teammates Dominik Simon and Jack Johnson to get up off the ice and into the locker room.
Schultz accompanied the team on its overnight charter flight back to Pittsburgh.
Mike Sullivan offered no word on Schultz's condition other than to say he had a "lower body injury" and would be evaluated after the Penguins returned:
Three possible positives:
• Dr. Vyas never called for a stretcher.
• It doesn't appear that Schultz was taken to a hospital, as Jack Johnson later described Schultz as talking with a few of his teammates during the first intermission, just a few minutes after the incident.
• If Schultz had major knee or bone damage, he'd almost certainly have needed to have those reset in a hospital. NHL arenas have X-rays and medical rooms, but not at the level of a hospital.
In three games this season, Schultz has four points -- all assists -- to tie for the team lead with Kris Letang, the only other right-handed shot on the blue line. Schultz was limited to 63 games last season by a knee injury and concussion, and he missed part of this preseason with what was believed to be a wrist injury.
The injury to Schultz's leg Saturday had the Penguins down to five defensemen, including Olli Maatta, who returned to the lineup after being a healthy scratch Thursday night against the Golden Knights.
Jamie Oleksiak, a healthy scratch in this game, is the obvious choice to rejoin the lineup in Schultz's absence. The Penguins also had been carrying an eighth defenseman, Chad Ruhwedel, so no promotion from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton is likely.
