Jake Evans of the Canadiens took a massive, dirty hit from Mark Schiefele of the Jets at the end of Montreal’s Game 1 win over Winnipeg.
As Evans laid on the ice helplessly after the empty-net goal and hit to the head, a scrum broke out right next to him. His teammates were trying to get even with Schiefele, but Evans was very close to harm’s way as a result.
MORE: Canadiens, Jets react to “dirty, disgusting” hit on Jake Evans
But an unlikely helper stepped in to make sure that Evans was OK. Jets forward Nikolaj Ehlers skated over and shielded Evans from the pile of players next to him.
This fantastic photo of Nikolaj Ehlers doing what he can to protect Jake Evans has been floating around various social media outlets without any credit to the photographer.
David Lipnowski/Getty Images pic.twitter.com/ltWa1Iblb2
— Seth Rorabaugh (@SethRorabaugh) June 3, 2021
Why did Ehlers do that? Well, it was all about making sure that Evans would avoid any further damage after the big hit he had already suffered.
“Obviously I hope he’s OK. I came back and saw that he wasn’t looking good. When something like that happens, there tends to be a scrum. So I was just trying to keep everyone away from him,” Ehlers said after the game. “In a situation like that, you don’t want anyone falling on top of him. I was just trying to keep everyone away.”
That was certainly a decent gesture of sportsmanship from Ehlers, and it’s one that the Canadiens should appreciate, at least in retrospect.
However, there certainly will be bad blood between Montreal and Schiefele. And though Schiefele has a suspension pending, defenseman Joel Edmondson confirmed that if the Winnipeg forward sees the ice again vs. the Canadiens, he will face consequences for his hit.
“Yeah, it was a dirty hit, but the league’s going to take care of it,” Edmondson said.
“If he gets back in the series, we’re going to make his life miserable, but I think the league’s going to do a good job with that.”
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