The Tank played host to a crazy game last night between the Sharks and the Jets. San Jose rallied from 3-0 and 4-3 deficits before eventually falling in overtime. It was a wild game, but the story is not so the game itself. Instead, it's the loss of future Hall of Famer, Joe Thornton, to a serious right knee injury.
And before you ask... No, it's not the same knee.
At the time, it looked really, really bad. Today the Sharks confirmed what we all were expecting - Joe Thornton will be out for "several weeks," maybe longer. Doug Wilson said Thornton will undergo an MRI today to find out the full extent of damage to the MCL. Surgery may not be out of the question. More info will be available after all the tests are complete.
The injury happened late in the final minute of the third period. Thornton fell to the ice and took Mikkel Boedker with him. Boedker landed on top of his teammates right leg. It looked like a hilarious heap of teal and black swirling around the ice. Humor was quickly removed form the situation when it was clear Thornton was struggling to get back to the bench. That was the "uh oh" moment.
Thornton had major surgery in the off season to his left knee to repair a torn MCL and ACL. At first I thought it was the same knee. Luckily, if I can call it that, it was not.
Jumbo has been so good lately. He's one of the games all-time greats. Even so, he's been experiencing a bit of a resurgence in this, his 20th season. The 38-year-old has nine points in the last seven games and has 13 goals and 23 assists through 47 games. He's a huge piece of this Sharks team. Hoepfully they have enough left in the locker room to hold down the fort until he returns.
I think the sight of Thornton stumbling to the dressing room may have stunned his teammates as much as it stunned us. The Sharks fought so hard to get back into the game before eventually losing in overtime. The lone silver lining is that they managed to earn a point. They appeared to be dead and buried for much of the first period. Getting at least a point was no small feat. Kudos for that.
The Sharks remain in second place in the Pacific Division with a 26-14-7 record.
I will update the post when we know more about how much time Thornton will miss.
Thanks for reading, Steve