Devils Lose Another Key Defenseman Amid Stanley Cup Playoffs

NEWARK–Ahead of Game 4 versus the Carolina Hurricanes on home ice, the New Jersey Devils are down yet another defenseman.

27-year-old defenseman, Johnathan Kovacevic, won’t play on Sunday afternoon when the Devils host the Canes. Dennis Cholowski will draw in for the injured Kovacevic.

Kovacevic sustained an injury in the first period of New Jersey’s 3-2 double overtime victory on Friday, and did not return for the final 40 minutes of the game, forcing the Devils to play with five defensemen.

As a result, Brian Dumoulin was iced for 36:29, while Dougie Hamilton and Brett Pesce likewise eclipsed the 30-minute mark in time on ice.

That makes three defensemen that are unavailable to the Devils on Sunday. Luke Hughes and Brenden Dillon were both injured in Game 1 of the series, and have yet to return, or even begin skating.

Head coach Sheldon Keefe did not have an update on whether any of the three injured defenseman will return by the end of the series with the Hurricanes.

In fact, the injury woes run so deep that Jonas Siegenthaler made an expedited return to game action on Friday.

Despite the belief the Swiss-born blueliner would play a light amount of minutes, he ended Friday’s game skating 27:09.

“Yeah, it was clear we only had five defensemen,” Siegenthaler explained on Friday. “And, yeah, I didn’t expect to play that much. But, you know, as said, I prepared myself mentally for that, for whatever comes. And I think if you’re in the flow, you don’t think too much about anything like that.”

The Devils and Hurricanes square off for Game 4 Sunday afternoon. They will need to play at least one more game past the weekend to close out the series. Time will tell if any of the injured defenseman, Kovacevic included, can return before then.

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