With Josh Kestner travelling with the Newfoundland Growlers for the Ohio portion of the ECHL Kelly Cup final, there would seem to be some hope the speedy rookie forward from Alabama might be available to play this week in upcoming games against the Toledo Walleye.
If Kestner, who was knocked out on a hit to the head by Walleye defenceman Kevin Tansey Sunday in St. John’s, cannot playGame 3 Wednesday in Toledo, the replacement options for Growlers head coach John Snowden are limited to forward Todd Skirving or Evan Neugold, a defenceman, but one who is a converted forward.
Newfoundland did have a more extensive roster earlier in the playoffs, with 20 players on the inactive list and three more in reserve. But teenager Semyon Der-Arguchintsev was sidelined by an upper body injury and fellow Russian Ilya Nekolenko is also no longer with the team.
That left Skirving, Neugold and third netminder Evan Levine as the extra players as Newfoundland began its best-of-seven series against Toledo.
Forwards Griffen Molino and Gabriel Gagne were with the Toronto Marlies, who were just bounced from the AHL playoffs, but the two were also officially playoff-eligible for Newfoundland, However, since the Growlers haven’t already filled all 23 available playoff roster slots, no more additions can be made unless emergency conditions arise. That only happens if a team is left with fewer than 16 healthy skaters.
Skirving and Neugold have both played in these playoffs and have performed well, but the Growlers would miss the scoring of the swift Kestner if he can’t return to action.
“You never want to see one of your brothers go down, and that’s what we’ve been all year, a brotherhood,” said fellow first-year forward Scott Pooley after the Growlers took a 2-0 lead in the series with a 2-1 overtime win Sunday.
“(But) when one goes down, the next guy steps up. At the same time, you never want to see one go down, especially in the fashion that he did.”
Kastner has eight playoff goals, third-most on Newfoundland and third-most among all rookies this ECHL post-season. Pooley has nine goals, including both of his team’s markers on Sunday, when he scored 16 minutes into OT.
Pooley said Kestner, who had scored twice, including the overtime winner, in Saturday’s opening game of the series, was definitely on his teammates’ minds as they entered the extra frame of Sunday’s rematch.
“There was definitely some extra incentive going into overtime and the message was ‘Let’s get one for Kess, let’s do it for Kess’ because he couldn’t be here battling with us, so we had to do it for him, and luckily we were able to,” said Pooley.
Twitter: @telybrendan
With files from Robin Short
———
RELATED: