Concussion diagnosis is not always immediate

Gcan recall suffering just two concussions as an NHL player, but you figure the number was higher.

Back in those days, when you got whacked in the head and it felt as though the arena was spinning and it was impossible to focus your gaze, there was another word for it.

“Hangover,” said Mcphee, general manager of the Golden Knights.

Translation: Play on.

But this is an age of protocols, of frightening words like chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and lawsuits that follow, of major professional sports leagues insisting their procedures are best when it comes to protecting athletes against brain injury.

Of making sure the health of someone like Marc-andre Fleury is paramount to anything, including his competitive nature.

Fleury has been placed on injured reserve by the Knights, the goalie and face of the expansion franchise lost for the time being with a concussion suffered in the second period of a 6-3 loss to Detroit on Friday.

Malcolm Subban started in his place Sunday and, in just his third NHL game, was terrific.

Subban stopped all but one of Boston’s 21 shots and the Knights beat the Bruins 3-1 before 17,562 at T-mobile Arena.

GRANEY

with 30 seconds left after David Pastrnak managed to bank the puck off him and into the net. “There weren’t a whole lot of great scoring chances. I was able to make easy saves.”

Knights coach Gerard Gallant pointed to how his team bounced back from Friday’s 6-3 loss to Detroit which saw Fleury, Marchessault and Haula all go down and then be placed on the injured reserve list.

“We probably played our most complete game of the year,” Gallant said of the Knights, who improved to 4-1. “They’re character guys and they want to win every night.”

The Knights were responsible in their defensive end of the ice for most of the night and Subban was solid throughout. He only had to come up big a couple of times as his defense and his forwards did a great job of gathering rebounds and covering the Bruins’ shooters. The announced crowd of 17,562 loved the effort, chanting “Suuu” with every save.

“The biggest thing was staying in the moment,” Subban said. “I was just focusing on the play in front of me.”

Subban said he talked to Fleury on Sunday morning. Fleury’s advice?

“Just go out, play my game and have fun,” Subban said. “(Fleury) was very supportive. I just did my thing in the net.”

David Prior, the Knights’ goaltending coach, has been working with Subban since his arrival Oct. 3 after being claimed off waivers from Boston. Prior saw a confident, relaxed person between the pipes.

“We just wanted him to execute,” Prior said. “Nothing fancy. Just stop the puck. If you execute, everything else falls into place.”

As for Tuch and Shipachyov, getting their first NHL goals in a game that was going to help define this team’s character was proof that general manager George Mcphee knew what he was doing when he brought them into the Knights’ organization.

Tuch, who had been playing in the American Hockey League with the Chicago Wolves and had five goals in three games before being recalled early Sunday, beat Tuukka Rask with a wrist shot from inside the right faceoff circle with 5:22 remaining in the second period.

Shipachyov, who hadn’t even skated with the team since being reassigned to the Wolves, practiced Saturday, then rapped home a rebound of Tuch’s shot with 2:14 left in the second period.

“They were tremendous,” Gallant said of Tuch and Shipachyov. “They’re both very good hockey players and to see them deliver for us the way they did was big.”

Contact Steve Carp at scarp@ reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow @stevecarprj on Twitter.