Andrei Svechnikov is in the concussion protocol a day after getting knocked out by a punch from his hero.
Fellow Russian Alex Ovechkin, whom Svechnikov grew up idolizing, fought the Hurricanes’ 19-year-old forward in Game 3 of their Stanley Cup playoff series Monday night and dropped him to the ice, knocked out cold.
Svechnikov did not return and is not expected to play in Thursday’s Game 4, Hurricanes coach Rob Brind’Amour announced Tuesday.
“First of all, I hope he’s OK,” Ovechkin told reporters, per ESPN. “Yeah, I’m not a big fighter, and he’s the same. He asked me to fight and said, ‘Let’s go.’ I hope he’s OK. You don’t want to see a guy get hurt or something. And you just go a different way.
“We got maybe a little bit frustrated and too confident. We just have to forget about it and move forward.”
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Brind’Amour said Tuesday that “there’s two versions going around” about who started the fight, but a night earlier, the coach seemed to pin the blame on Ovechkin.
“When you see that, it makes you sick. I’m still sick to my stomach about it,” Brind’Amour told reporters Monday. “… It’s a little bit tough, because I just heard Ovi talk about it; he said our guy challenged him. So, if that’s the case, it’s a little different. If you watch the video, he slashes him twice — Ovi, whack, whack — then Svech gets him back. I don’t know if there’s words exchanged, but one guy’s gloves come off way first. And that’s Ovi, not our guy.
“So, it’s a little but frustrating, because he got hurt. It’s his first fight. He’s played 90 games. He’s never fought in his life, and I’m pretty sure Ovi knew that. So, that stuff bothers me.”
It was Svechnikov’s first career fight and Ovechkin’s first since 2010.
Svechnikov, the No. 2-overall pick in 2018, tallied 20 goals and 17 assists in 80 games during the regular season. The Hurricanes went on to win the game 5-0 without him, but still trail in the series 2-1.