Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Alexander Nikishin was diagnosed with a concussion during his team's Game 4 win over the Ottawa Senators on Saturday, the team announced.
Nikishin, 24, who averaged 16:30 time on the ice in the Hurricanes' four-game sweep over Ottawa, returned with the club to Raleigh, North Carolina, after the win. He will continue to run through the NHL's protocol for a safe return to play, the team announced, as it awaits its Round 2 opponent.
Emotions boiled over in Game 4 after Senators defenseman Tyler Kleven ran over Nikishin with a huge hit that left the defenseman dazed and needing help off the ice in his team's 4-2 win. He left having skated in 11 shifts, covering 5:16 of ice time. After the win, Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour told reporters that it "certainly looked like" Nikishin suffered a concussion.
It was all a part of a four-game tussle loaded with pressure for the Hurricanes, who flexed years of postseason experience en route to becoming the first team in the NHL to advance. The Eastern Conference's top seed did so despite its top line and power play going quiet, along with the team spending too much time in the penalty box. Yet the Hurricanes offset that with a dominating showing from its second line of Logan Stankoven, Taylor Hall and Jackson Blake; a nearly flawless penalty kill and elite goaltending from Frederik Andersen.
"Like we've kind of talked about all year, whatever way the game goes, our group can handle it," said Brind'Amour, who has won at least one postseason series in all eight of his seasons. "I didn't love all the penalties. There's a fine line you've got to try to balance. I don't know that we did a great job there. But I loved just the compete level of our group from Game 1 all the way through. Pretty impressive."
The Hurricanes' playoff run under Brind'Amour goes back to an unexpected run to the Eastern Conference final in 2019 after a nine-year postseason drought. They've been a postseason fixture ever since, reaching the Eastern final in two of the past three seasons, losing to Florida each time.
In 2023, Carolina lost four one-goal games to the Panthers in a series that included a four-overtime thriller, an outcome that Brind'Amour said he didn't regard as a traditional sweep because of how tight the series was.
Fast forward three years, and the Hurricanes largely stood on the other side of that scenario. They never led by more than two goals and survived a double-overtime Game 2 before becoming the first team to never trail in a first-round series since the Detroit Red Wings beat the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2009, according to ESPN Research.
"I couldn't imagine being in a better spot team wise," said Hall, a former Hart Trophy winner as league MVP. "Just the mix of guys that we have and having Rod as a coach has been awesome for me personally, the way he pushes buttons -- it's not really pushing buttons, but he gets the most out of his players."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.