ANAHEIM, CALIF. - Whether the Wild launched a miraculous Western Conference quarterfinals comeback with Tuesday's one-sided 4-1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks or simply delayed the inevitable, it'll have to move on without No. 1 defenseman Kim Johnsson tonight -- and probably a lot longer if it avoids elimination.
After an afternoon telephone hearing with NHL Executive Vice President Colin Campbell, Ducks forward Brad May was suspended three games Wednesday for his match penalty for "intent to injure" on Johnsson late in Game 4. The length of the suspension ensures he won't play against the Wild again this season.
May's sucker punch left the 31-year-old Johnsson with what sounds like a serious head injury, a deep concern considering he missed the final 31 games of last season because of a concussion. Johnsson spent Tuesday night in a St. Paul hospital and was there most of the day Wednesday undergoing tests until being discharged in the late afternoon.
"I don't know the results yet," General Manager Doug Risebrough said.
May's suspension pales in comparison to how big of a loss this is for the Wild.
May, a fourth line "tough guy," averaged 7 minutes, 40 seconds in the series' first four games. Johnsson led all Wild players at 23:06 a game.
"It's not a great tradeoff," Risebrough said. "Johnny is a big part of the team. He plays a lot of minutes, he plays a lot of minutes against the top players. He's a liked player, so it's up to the players to get by that and deal with trying to win [tonight's] game and be inspired by the fact he got back off the ice."
With 1:48 left in Tuesday's game, the Wild's Adam Hall was about to fight Kent Huskins when Shawn Thornton flew in for a third-man in penalty.
May, a long-time agitator who once was suspended 20 games for slashing Columbus' Steve Heinze in the head, dropped his gloves ready to hit somebody.
As Johnsson skated toward him, May skated from right to left and punched Johnsson, a non-pugilist, in the face. Johnsson fell to the ice. May then tried to pick Johnsson up from the back of his jersey before dropping him (seen live from the press box and confirmed by Risebrough, but footage of the incident has not been provided to reporters).
May didn't practice Wednesday because he had a "doctor's appointment," according to coach Randy Carlyle, so he was not made available to reporters.
Carlyle, with a straight face, said, "there was a push, and then May and Johnsson came together, and then punches started flying."
That angered Risebrough, who called May "a repeat offender."It was one punch," Risebrough said. "I'm not even sure Johnny had his gloves off. So it was not a flurry of punches as much as Mr. Carlyle would like to hope it's that. It was one punch, with May [wanting] to give another one, but Johnny was on the ground."
Wild coach Jacques Lemaire plans to spread Johnsson's minutes, but Martin Skoula likely will see the mass of the extra ice time. When Johnsson missed four games in January, Skoula played more than 28 minutes and was a plus-8.
Defenseman Kurtis Foster, who has two assists in the series but was scratched in Games 3 and 4, will play for Johnsson.
"[Johnsson's] the guy that was getting the puck out of our end often," Lemaire said. "He has the skill to move around, get away from people, make the right play, make the right pass, the long pass when we needed it.
"Now you replace your top defenseman with your [number] six, seven defenseman."
The ugliness at the end of Tuesday's game could make for an intense, fiery Game 5.
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