Sabourin of Senators to be released from hospital

Scott Sabourin of the Ottawa Senators will be released from the hospital Sunday, one day after being taken off the ice on a stretcher during the first period of a 5-2 loss to the Boston Bruins at TD Garden.

"One thing we know for sure is he suffered a fractured nose," Senators general manager Pierre Dorion said. "We're going to continue to monitor him and make sure that he's OK."
Sabourin was injured when he collided with Bruins forward David Backes near the right boards at 3:05. Sabourin came in for a hit on Backes, and it appeared their heads made contact. Sabourin immediately went down, and play was stopped at 3:08. His helmet made direct contact with the ice after he fell.

"You don't want to see anyone, anyone, on either team lying motionless like that on the ice," said Senators coach D.J. Smith, who said he didn't know the exact injury and that Sabourin was conscious and speaking. "And certainly, our players were emotional, and so were their guys. It's just an unfortunate situation."
Sabourin remained down on the ice for more than 11 minutes but was able to move his legs before being placed on the stretcher. He gave a thumbs-up while being taken off the ice.
"It was pretty emotional for all of us," Ottawa defenseman Mark Borowiecki said. "That was one of the first ones, I think for me personally, I've ever been a little choked up. I love that guy. We all love him in here. He's a team-first guy, would do anything for anyone, and to see him down there like that, we were all pretty shook up.
"I was scared. It was hard to see, for sure, someone you care about."
On the Bruins lining up when Sabourin was being taken off, Borowiecki said, "This is a sport with a lot of competition and at times animosity and hatred and all that. But at the end of the day, we're all brothers in this game. We're all doing this because we love the sport, it's our livelihood, and you just -- that could just as easily have been one of us. You just can't help but think about [Sabourin] and his parents and his loved ones and his fiancée watching that. It hits you.
"It's a bit of a gut shot, for sure. I think it shows the respect we all have for each other."
After Sabourin was wheeled off, Backes headed down the tunnel toward the dressing room. He did not return because of an upper-body injury.
The Bruins said their thoughts were with him, as well as Sabourin.
"I can't imagine mentally [what Backes is going through], nothing like that's ever happened to me," Boston forward Chris Wagner said. "I tried to tell him it's not his fault, it's a hockey play, but yeah, I really feel for him too."
Ottawa's next game is against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Monday (7 p.m. ET; MSG, TSN5, RDS, NHL.TV).
NHL.com staff writer Amalie Benjamin and correspondent Matt Kalman contributed to this report