Ottawa Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson suffered a concussion on Saturday after getting an elbow to the head by New York Rangers forward Carl Hagelin on Saturday. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
Ottawa Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson told reporters on Monday that he suffered a concussion after receiving an elbow to the head from New York Rangers forward Carl Hagelin over the weekend.
The team said prior to game time Alfredsson would not play in game three at Scotiabank Place against the Rangers on Monday night (CBC, CBCSports.ca, 7:30 p.m. ET). The Eastern Conference quarter-final series is tied 1-1.
The hit occurred in the second period during Ottawa’s 3-2 overtime win in the second game of the series Saturday at Madison Square Garden when Hagelin hit Alfredsson in the head while the two were along the boards in a heated contest.
Hagelin received a three-game suspension Sunday.
Alfredsson skated with the rest of his teammates in a pre-game skate on Monday but was a late scratch.
He refused to label Hagelin — a fellow countrymen — a dirty player.
"I think Carl is not that kind of player, but with the intensity of everything that goes on in a playoff game, things happen," said the Swede. "He gets an elbow up where I think normally he wouldn't if it's not a playoff game, and that's one thing the league is preaching is blows to the head. I'm sure they went through it a lot of times and did the right thing [evaluating] what they had been watching.
"I'm not a guy that's gonna hold a grudge. Things happen, it's playoff hockey and if it needs to disciplined, the league will take care of that."
