Kyle Clifford suffered an upper-body injury when he was checked by Michael Stone into the corner boards during the second period of Wednesday’s 4-3 overtime loss to Calgary at Staples Center and did not return after skating back to the bench and heading down the tunnel to the dressing room.
The play that resulted in the injury (via @KingsGifs):
One of the questions Kings coach John Stevens was asked after the game posited that Clifford had been spotted in a sling outside the team’s dressing room. That’s more or less in line with the above video, which appeared to show Clifford’s left arm, or the left side of his upper-body, bearing the weight of Stone’s check.
An injury disrupts the strong start to the season etched out by the line of Clifford, Nick Shore and Trevor Lewis.
Other injured players include Alec Martinez, who is on injured reserve as he progresses in his attempt to return from a lower-body injury suffered at practice last week, and Marian Gaborik, an injured non-roster player who is rehabilitating a “more in-depth medical procedure for a chronic issue related to his left knee” that was addressed early in the off-season.
Los Angeles returns to Staples Center to face Buffalo on Saturday and the New York Islanders on Sunday.
-Lead photo via Harry How/Getty Images
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