USAToday Sports Images
USAToday Sports Images

New Jersey Devils forward Taylor Hall delivered a thunderous body check to Vancouver Canucks defenseman Philip Larsen on Tuesday night. The result of the hit was Larsen being stretchered off the ice, and taken to hospital. The check was clean and no penalty was called on the play.

Taylor Hall was shaken about the hit. Had no regrets, but hated to see the result. “I’m looking to make contact there, but I never want to see a guy laying on the ice there like that,” Hall said after the game, to Chris Ryan of NJ.com. “I only know how to play the game one way, and you’ve got to play it hard. But like I said, I feel terrible. “I don’t have any regrets with what I did,” he said. “I tried to keep all my extremities in close and make contact chest-to-chest, and sometimes it doesn’t work out like that. “I just hope he’s alright. You never want to see that.” expressed Hall.

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On Wednesday, Philip Larsen was on his way back to Vancouver and to the surprise of most has been cleared to resume play. It was great news for the Danish-born player on his birthday. It was not determined if he will rejoin the team on their east coast road trip. The severity of the check made many in the hockey world think the worse, and worry about the health of Larsen.

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The Devils, Blues, Blackhawks and Predators all continued stretches of strong play on home ice with wins on Tuesday:

* Ben Lovejoy scored the game-winning goal while shorthanded in the second period and Taylor Hall registered 1-1—2 to help the Devils improve to 8-0-2 at Prudential Center this season. Elias notes that the Devils established the longest home point streak to start a season in franchise history, eclipsing their mark from 1987-88 (8-0-1).

* Trailing 2-0 in the third period, the Blues rallied with three consecutive goals – including two from Jaden Schwartz (2-1—3, OT winner) – to extend their home point streak to 13 games (10-0-3) and improve to 12-1-3 at Scottrade Center this season. Elias notes the Blues overcame a multi-goal deficit in the third period to win for the first time since March 2, 2014 at PHX (4-2 W).

* Scott Darling (22 saves) recorded his first shutout of the season (third career) and Marian Hossa (2-0—2) scored twice to help the Blackhawks improve to 11-2-2 at United Center this season.

* In a game that saw the Predators lead on four separate occasions, Roman Josi’s tiebreaking goal at 1:04 of the third period broke a 3-3 tie and stood as the game-winner. With the victory, the Predators improved to 9-2-2 at Bridgestone Arena this season.

* Rink Report Information via NHL Media report