BOSTON – A scary scene at the TD Garden on Saturday night as Senators forward Scott Sabourin had to be wheeled off the ice in the stretcher after a violent collision with David Backes in the first period.
With the Bruins up 1-0 a minute into the game, Sabourin was moving in for a hit on puck carrier David Backes against the side boards when the Ottawa forward bounced off Backes and appeared to get knocked out on his skates.
Sabourin’s body immediately went slack while dropping face-first into the board and players from both the Bruins and Senators immediately called for medical assistance. Sabourin was stretchered off the ice through the Garden Zamboni entrance after emergency personnel worked on him for 10 plus minutes in front of the penalty boxes.
Backes appeared very upset while watching Sabourin get worked on in the eerily silent arena following the clean, hard hockey hit, and then headed to the Bruins dressing room once the Senators forward was wheeled off the frozen sheet.
There was no immediate report on Sabourin’s condition, but it appeared to be a concussion based on the sequence of events. The 27-year-old Sabourin has a goal and two points along with 13 penalty minutes in 10 games for the Senators this season as a feel-good story after making the Ottawa team out of training camp after spending the first seven seasons of his pro hockey career paying his dues at the AHL level.
In a bit of good news, Sabourin gave a thumbs up to everybody on the ice and in the crowd as he was getting wheeled off by the EMTs.
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