Nurse: Obvious Reaves was looking to 'inflict pain' on hit

Darnell Nurse sounded off on the hit from Toronto Maple Leafs forward Ryan Reaves that's sidelined the Edmonton Oilers defenseman since Saturday.

"In situations like that, there's definitely an onus on the player with the puck to be aware of where everyone else is on the ice, for sure," he told reporters Thursday. "With that said, even if you put yourself in a bad spot, there's lots of body on a 6-foot-4 hockey player to hit, and not one piece was touched other than the head.

"You can argue about the intent, but there's certain guys in the league that, each shift they go out there, they try and go inflict pain. I think it's pretty obvious what was going on there."

The hit occurred in the second period of the Oilers' 4-3 overtime loss. Nurse was bloodied on the play and subsequently ruled out for the remainder of the contest. Reaves was suspended five games for an illegal check to the head Sunday.

Ryan Reaves receives a 5-minute match penalty for this hit on Darnell Nurse. pic.twitter.com/hVZN9FJpRY

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) November 17, 2024

Nurse conceded he may not have been "aware enough" of his surroundings before the hit but restated that it was also Reaves' responsibility to keep it clean.

"It's one thing if my head is between my knees, but I was in a skating posture," he said. "You're elevating at that point to hit someone in the head."

Nurse added that he's feeling "good," and that Reaves apologized to him afterward.

Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said Monday that Nurse was expected to miss 5-10 days. Edmonton will next play the Minnesota Wild on Thursday and the New York Rangers on Saturday, which falls within Nurse's recovery timeline. However, nothing has been confirmed.

"With these things, the timeline's kinda up to multiple people," the rearguard said. "What I feel sometimes isn't indicative of what's gonna happen, so we'll see."

Edmonton lost its first game without him in the lineup but beat the Ottawa Senators 5-2 on Tuesday.

Nurse, 29, is in the midst of his 11th season with the Oilers. He's logged nine points in 18 games while averaging 20:49 minutes of ice time per contest.

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