The Nashville Predators have had horrific injury luck as of late. Nashville has seen a number of their biggest contributors go down, and the bad news doesn't seem to have an end in sight.
The Predators revealed on Sunday that forward Matt Duchene is week-to-week with a hand injury. Duchene suffered the injury during the day's game against the Toronto Maple Leafs in the second period.
Duchene was setting up in the offensive zone with the rest of his team early in the second period. Defenseman Dante Fabbro took a shot, which hit Duchene in the hand. The Predators forward did not return to the game.
“Obviously, we lose [Duchene] in the second period, so that hurts a lot,” Predators forward Cody Glass said. “We have a young group, and it was kind of one of those adversity things where guys have got to step up, and that's kind of what this whole thing has been about.”
Duchene has had a big impact for the Predators as they have attempted to climb back into the Stanley Cup Playoff picture. He leads the team with 22 goals and is second with 56 points in 72 games this year.
Duchene becomes the seventh player in the Predators lineup to go out with injury. Nashville has previously lost some big names, including team captain Roman Josi and forward Ryan Johansen.
The Predators are five points back of the Winnipeg Jets for the Western Conference's final Wild Card spot. The team does have 10 games left, so there is still room for them to gain ground. However, with all these injuries, the team certainly faces an uphill battle in the Western Conference playoff race.