Columbus Blue Jackets forward Kent Johnson leaves game, doesn't return

The Blue Jackets’ injury luck continues to be rotten.

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Despite getting some good news with the return of Justin Danforth from offseason wrist surgery, the bad news continued with another awkward fall Thursday at Nationwide Arena that knocked Kent Johnson out of the Blue Jackets' 6-4 win against the Buffalo Sabres .

With the Blue Jackets up 2-0 just 52 seconds into the second period, Johnson, skating at a high rate of speed, tumbled over teammate James van Riemsdyk just outside the Columbus blue line ― near the same spot where defenseman Erik Gudbranson sustained an upper-body injury Tuesday during a collision with teammate Sean Monahan.

Johnson hit the ice hard, immediately grabbed his left arm/hand in pain and skated off the ice. He went straight down the tunnel to get medical assistance, angrily throwing a glove on his way out. It looked just like Gudbranson’s exit two nights earlier.

"Again, just a freak thing, right, taken out again by our own player," Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason said. "(He) just freakishly falls, and we'll see how he is (Friday), but as I said with (Gudbranson), it didn't look good. But we'll get the evaluation (Friday)."

Like Gudbranson's injury, the Blue Jackets are only calling it an “upper-body injury” at this point.

Last season, when Johnson scored six goals, recorded 10 assists and averaged 13:32 of ice time in 42 games, his season came to a halt with a torn labrum in his left shoulder Feb. 28 at Madison Square Garden, which happened while taking the final meaningless faceoff in a loss to the New York Rangers. The young winger needed surgery to repair it and spent the first part of the Blue Jackets’ offseason finishing his rehab for it.

This season, after adding more speed and explosive bursts to his skating during summer training, Johnson got off to a great start to his third full NHL season. His assist on the game's first goal Thursday against the Sabres was his fifth point (two goals, three assists) in four games. He put together a four-game point streak, as well, notching at least a point in all four games.

Johnson had also moved up a line Thursday to play right wing with Adam Fantilli and van Riemsdyk for the first time, after Danforth returned to skate on the third line with Cole Sillinger and Mikael Pyyhtia ― Johnson's prior spot. The Blue Jackets are also without captain Boone Jenner (shoulder surgery), Gudbranson (upper body), Dmitri Voronkov (upper body) and goalie Elvis Merzlikins (upper body).

All but Merzlikins are on injured reserve, and Voronkov's injury is also believed to be a shoulder issue that keeps him out until late November at the earliest.

"Super tough (to see)," Sillinger said of Johnson, the NHL's fifth overall pick in 2021. "The way he was playing ... you never, ever want to see that. The thing with 'KJ,' he deals with adversity extremely well, so even talking to him, he's already got a smile on his face and is trying to think of the most positive outcomes and things like that. He doesn't deserve that, with what he went through last year, and whatever is evaluated, he'll be coming back stronger."

bhedger@dispatch.com

@BrianHedger

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Blue Jackets forward Kent Johnson leaves game, doesn't return