How hard can one human being get hit by another? Mark Stone may know the answer.
Stone had a severe run-in with 6-foot-5, 260-pound Winnipeg Jets defenceman Dustin Byfuglien Wednesday night. As Stone received the puck and turned up ice, Byfuglien caught him with a devastating — and clean — bodycheck that forced the Sens forward to immediately leave the ice for concussion tests. Byfuglien was not penalized on the play.
Stone did return to the bench in short order and finished the second period. However, he did not return to start the third period and the Senators announced he had sustained a chest injury, presumably from the Byfuglien hit.
After the game, Senators coach Dave Cameron said Stone would stay behind in Winnipeg to get checked out.
Coming in to the game, Stone had 23 goals and 60 points in 74 games, and he added another assist to that total against the Jets.
Both the Jets and Senators are well out of the playoff race.