VANCOUVER - Forward Mason Raymond will miss Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final and could be sidelined for four months with a back injury, the Vancouver Canucks said Tuesday.
Raymond sustained a vertebrae compression fracture in Monday night's 5-2 loss to the Boston Bruins in Game 6 of the final, Mike Gillis, the Canucks' general manager, said in a release.
Raymond is expected to be out of the lineup for three to four months. No other details were provided.
The Canucks will face the Bruins in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final Wednesday.
Raymond was hurt just 20 seconds into Monday's game when he got tangled up awkwardly with Bruins defenceman Johnny Boychuk. He was bent at the waist with Bodycheck's stick between his legs when Boychuk ran him backward into the boards near Boston's net.
No penalty was called.
Raymond lay face down on the ice for several minutes before his teammates helped him off. He wasn't moving his legs as his teammates guided him to the bench.
He was taken a local hospital for evaluation.
The 25-year-old from Cochrane, Alta., has two goals and eight assists in 24 playoff games. In 70 regular-season games the speedy forward had 15 goals and 24 assists.
Raymond joins a growing list of injured Canuck players.
Defenceman Dan Hamhuis is sidelined with an undisclosed injury, while Mikael Samuelsson is out after undergoing successful surgery to repair his adductor tendon and sports hernia.
Defenceman Aaron Rome was suspended for a hit on Boston's Nathan Horton in Game 3.
Horton was ruled out for the rest of the series with a concussion after the hit, but returned to TD Garden for Game 6 to rile the crowd up by waving one of the Bruins' yellow towels.
Vancouver centre Ryan Kesler and defenceman Christian Ehrhoff are playing with suspected injuries.
