Scary injury to Oilers’ Evander Kane ‘sucked life out of (Amalie Arena)’

TAMPA — Evander Kane’s frantic rush to the Oilers bench while holding his left arm early in the second period Tuesday night told everyone at Amalie Arena something was wrong.

The spot of blood left behind on the ice had fans holding their breath.

Kane sustained a deep gash to his left wrist from forward Pat Maroon’s left skate blade during the Lightning’s 3-2 loss.

While chasing a puck toward the far boards, Kane fell to the ground after taking a hit from Lightning defenseman Philippe Myers. With Kane still on his back, Maroon skated back and caught his blade on Kane’s arm.

“That’s a scary situation,” Maroon said. “When you see that much blood you know that there’s something wrong. That’s obviously not normal. So obviously the boys are really worried about him. We’re all thinking about Evander, so hopefully he’s OK and it’s nothing too serious.”

After the game, Maroon went down to the Edmonton locker room to check on Kane’s status. He was stabilized at the arena, then taken to a local hospital for surgery on his wrist.

“The news that I’ve received so far, and it’s very limited, is that he’s in a good spot and he’s getting well taken care of,” Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft said.

After Maroon saw the blood on the ice, he immediately tried to get the officials’ attention to stop play. And Woodcroft raised his hands on the Edmonton bench trying to get a whistle. Woodcroft praised Edmonton’s medical and training staff and the EMTs on duty at Amalie Arena for their quick action.

“They’re quick thinkers and quick actors and I think Evander is in a good spot because of it,” Woodcroft said.

“You cringe when you see that,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper added. “It kind of took a little life out of the game. It sucked life out of the building. It was tough to see. … In hockey, even though we battle against each other and it’s a war, we’re still a family and so you never want anything like that to happen to anybody.”

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