Nathan Horton OK After Collision With Dion Phaneuf At End Of Game 4
BOSTON (CBS) -- David Krejci's overtime goal on Wednesday night in Toronto brought great relief and excitement to Bruins fans, but the play that led to the game-winner left many of them feeling a bit uneasy. That's because Nathan Horton absorbed a pretty heavy hit by Dion Phaneuf down in the Bruins' end of the ice, a hit that sent the forward's stick flying through the air and left him lying on the ice while Krejci rushed the other way.
Considering Horton's history with concussions, and also his undisclosed "upper-body injury" that kept him out of action for the end of the regular season, there was concern about Horton's health after the Bruins took a 3-1 series lead.
But on Thursday afternoon, those fears were cast aside, as Horton assured reporters that he was feeling A-OK.
"I knew he was coming," Horton said of the Phaneuf hit. "I tried to get myself around him when I chipped the puck. Obviously, he took me out and I couldn't get around him, but it worked out well because Dave [Krejci] got it. ... I was pretty happy when I saw that he scored."
Bruins coach Claude Julien said Horton was "absolutely" fine, but at the time, Horton's health was a chief concern.
"That winning goal, it was one of those where you got one eye looking at that outnumbered situation, and the other eye is looking at if your other guys is going to be getting up," Julien said. "So it's a little bit of both. But when that goal was scored, the first thing I did was look if Nathan was still on the ice or if he was up. And he's fine. It was a bit of a body blow from an aggressive forecheck on Phaneuf's part and it ended up playing in our favor."
In four postseason games, Horton has three goals and three assists and is a plus-7.
