New Jersey Devils' John Moore lucky to only have a concussion 1
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New Jersey Devils defenseman John Moore was slammed into the boards by Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson, with a twist.

It’s a play that often happens in the NHL. That doesn’t make it any easier to watch.

In a rematch between the New Jersey Devils and Washington Capitals, Devils defenseman John Moore was slammed against the boards by Capitals forward Tom Wilson.

Via SB Nation

The result: John Moore was carried out on a stretcher as his teammates look on.

Via SB Nation

Isabelle Khurshudyan of The Washington Post tweeted Wilson’s remorseful response to the unfortunate incident.

“Rubbed out” is quite an accurate choice of words. Though it is agreed by most that it was not on the malicious side, it was not entirely innocent either.

Devils coach John Hynes agreed it was not an intent to injure but was aggravated by the referee’s explanation that Moore had to go through glass to warrant at least a penalty there. It sets a possible precedent for the future that you need debris scattered on the ice as well as a prone body to draw a penalty.

Per Khurshudyan, Hynes spoke about the referee’s decision.

“It’s good that he’s for sure getting released from the hospital,” Hynes said. “I wouldn’t necessarily say it was a dirty play. It looked like a hit from behind. His back was turned on the glass and he was hit pretty hard into the glass. It looked like it was a penalty. The refs felt because he didn’t get launched into the glass it wasn’t a penalty. It’s not my decision to buy or not buy [that].”

For the Devils (14-16-7) it was a double smack to the face as they lost to the Capitals (21-9-5), 6-2, splitting the home and home series.

John Moore is now on the injured reserve list with a concussion, but it could have been worst. Or with the rash of Devil injuries, maybe not.

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