Edmonton Oilers’ Darnell Nurse breaks silence on polarizing slash
Edmonton Oilers defenceman Darnell Nurse has given his side of the story on the slash that injured Stars player Roope Hintz.
The play happened back in Game 2 of the Western Conference Final. Nurse and Hintz were battling it out late in the third period in front of the Oilers’ net. Hintz laid a healthy check to the back of the Oilers defender, in which Nurse retaliated with a nasty slash to the Finn’s ankle.
Hintz immediately fell to the ice and had to be helped off. Nurse was initially assessed a major penalty on the play, but a review downgraded it to a minor penalty for slashing. Hintz missed Game 3 as a result.
Reporters finally got the opportunity to ask Nurse about the play on Tuesday morning, where he said that he had no intention of hurting the Dallas forward.
“I was just backing up to the net, and I got a shot at the back,” Nurse explained. “I think it was just a natural reaction. It’s probably a play that everyone in this room, whether you’re a net-front or d-man, it probably happens a dozen, two dozen times in a year.
“Unfortunate that it must have gotten him in a bad spot. You don’t want to go out there and hurt anyone, but it was just one of those play that happens so often.”
"We've been really good at building a series lead & coming out later in the series, finding a way to take a hold of them. We have to try to do that tonight."
Darnell Nurse on the #Oilers continuing to play with urgency.@Enterprise | #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/p5DTmrjWKU
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) May 27, 2025
Nurse is right about his observation on the play. Players get slashed all the time in front of the net, and it usually doesn’t result in injury. This particular play seemed to have a combination of bad timing and luck to hurt Hintz so badly.
The play initiated quite a reaction from both Dallas players and head coach Pete DeBoer, who thought there was some degree of intention on Nurse’s behalf to inflict an injury on their star player.
Mason Marchment went so far as to say that they would be keeping that play in mind as the series progressed. The Stars seemed to get their pound of flesh in Game 3, with a high hit from Alex Petrovic injuring Connor Brown, who will now miss at least one game with an injury.
The physicality of this Western Conference Final has been ramping up, and Dallas is sure to be playing desperate hockey as long as they are trailing in the series. Things will only get nastier as these two teams get more familiar.