Sven Baertschi leaves game with Upper Body Injury, Higgins ok after scary shot block

The Canucks’ injury woes continue to pile up, as young winger Sven Baertschi left tonight’s game with an upper-body injury before the conclusion of the second period.

There isn’t a ton known as to when the injury was suffered. Baertschi’s only significant collision of the game came against Jake Muzzin in front of the net. The reactionary spin immediately after impact could imply some sort of whiplash, though ultimately, nobody knows for sure just yet. Baertschi’s last shift before heading off came about seven game minutes later.

Baertschi, who was acquired last season from the Calgary Flames and was ranked by Canucks Army as the organization’s top prospect, had a slow start to his season but has picked it up recently. With tonight not included, Baertschi went from regularly playing less than ten minutes per game to playing 13 minutes or more in six of his last seven games, including 16:17 against Edmonton on Saturday. The 23-year-old had 4 points in the last 3 games before Christmas break and had taken two shots in a little over six minutes before being pulled from the game tonight. Needless to say, this would be a terrible break for a young player who appeared to be turning the corner.

In other news, fans held their breath almost as sharply as Chris Higgins’ was taken away late in the second period after an Alec Martinez slapshot went straight into his chest. Naturally, if it hit him in the abdominal region, the puck would have probably deflected across the ice and into the Los Angeles night, but instead, Higgins fell to the ice and was very slow to get up. Thankfully, he returned to the ice for the third period and hasn’t missed a shift since.

The Canucks are currently down 4-0 with eight minutes remaining in the third period.