Alex Burrows stood in front of his locker Sunday afternoon answering questions about the play that forced him to leave the game for a handful of shifts. There was a cut on the outside of his jaw, blood was still pooling in his mouth and he stated he was thankful the clearing attempt from Chris Tanev did nothing more than bust up a couple of his teeth. It turns out Burrows was too quick to give thanks.
Of course, his jaw was broken. In this season where seemingly nothing has gone his way, we should have all known better than to believe the initial reports. The doctor in Raleigh who examined Burrows felt the Canucks’ winger had only damaged his teeth. Burrows played the third period, did his post-game media duties and flew with his teammates to Nashville, where the Canucks had a team dinner.
“I had like 10 crab cakes, lobster bisque and I had some linguini with tomato and ground beef sauce … I had super-small bites because I couldn’t chew at all so I would stuff tiny pieces and just swallow them,” Burrows said. “So frustrating when guys around are having the big surf and turf.”
When Burrows’ jaw didn’t feel any better on Monday, he was off to see another doctor who did an X-ray revealing the break. Burrows underwent surgery in Nashville and is expected to fly back to Vancouver with his teammates on Wednesday.
This is the latest blow for Burrows who has had his fair share of problems this season. First there was the broken foot he suffered blocking a shot in the first game of the season. That injury cost him 12 games.
And of course he has yet to score a goal this campaign – despite the fact he’s averaging better than 18 minutes of ice time per-game – having registered 49 shots in 17 games. Keep in mind that before this season Burrows’ career shooting percentage was 13% (a number the Canucks Army dudes say is a little skewed because of the time he has spent playing with the Sedins).
